Marital Laws in the Philippines

Copyright © 2009 by Chester B Cabalza. All Rights Reserved. (Abstract)

The Philippines, being the largest Roman Catholic country in Asia, is one the only remaining countries in the world, without a divorce law. This holds true when the late President Corazon C. Aquino signed into law Executive Order No. 209, otherwise known as the “Family Code,” partially influenced by Canon Laws, which took effect on August 3, 1988, governing marriages of all non-Muslim Filipinos. This is supported by the 1987 Philippine Constitution, under Article XV, Section 2, and Article 1 of the Family Code, which both expressly characterize marriage as the foundation of the family and an inviolable social institution. By and large, marriage in the Philippines is a special contract of a permanent union between a man and a woman (same sex marriage is null and void), in which the State plays as an arbiter, whether or not it will allow dissolution of marriage to spouses.

However, under the Family Code, a spouse who seeks relief from the effects of marriage may avail of any of the following remedies: (1) declaration of nullity of marriage, (2) annulment of marriage, and (3) legal separation.

Grounds for the declaration of nullity of marriage are the following: minority; lack of parental consent; absence of marriage license; bigamous or polygamous marriages; mistake in identity; subsequent marriage which has been annulled but fails to record the judgment of annulment; incestuous marriage; void by reason of public policy; and psychological incapacity. Grounds for annulment consist of the following: no parental consent; unsoundness of mind; fraud; force, intimidation or undue influence; impotence; and sexually-transmissible disease. Lastly, grounds for legal separation include the following: infliction of physical abuse; moral pressure; grossly abusive conduct; promotion to prostitution; final judgment of more than six years imprisonment; drug addiction, habitual alcoholism, lesbianism or homosexuality; contracting of subsequent bigamous marriage; sexual infidelity; sexual perversion; attempt on the life of the spouse; and abandonment. More so, these “quasi-divorce” means in the country involve moral, social, economic and psychological issues.

At present, absolute divorce is not allowed in the Philippines, however, the paper will try to address whether the apparent socio-economic problems the country is facing are sufficient for the family courts to be flexible on its current remedies available to spouses. For instance, there is a growing number of domestic violence in Filipino households, which gives significance by Republic Act 9262 or the special law defining Violence against Women and their Children. There are also numerous cases on the plight of the Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), some of whom may have left dysfunctional families behind, or affluent parties who later become naturalized as foreign citizens and obtain divorce decree abroad. These cases add to the increasing statistics of spouses seeking legal remedies to their marital problems. Hence, the current socio-economic alterations in the country, pose valid considerations in resolving the issues in the present Family Code and other civil laws of the country.

This paper seeks to scrutinize and understand the current socio-economic changes as well as the cultural, moral, and psychological issues in the Philippines which may affect the legality of marriage and sanctity of family available to spouses and their children whose marriage is falling apart and family is breaking away. Particularly whether or not, the conservative approach of the highly influential Catholic Church in the Philippines, still adapts to the ever-evolving economic, moral, and social challenges the country is faced with in a deterritorialized world.