An interesting situationer was posed to me by a colleague: What if annulment were denied , can the petitioner at a later time refile for annulment on the ground of a change in the situation of the parties, as when the other has left the country and has not complied with his/her marital obligations??Normally, civil or family law cases after they have become final is binding as between the parties and the whole world and could not be filed again because the decision is already final. An example is an action for collection of money. Once a decision ordering a party to pay another a particular sum of money becomes final, that generally cannot be refiled again. Otherwise, there would be no end to litigation. But is marriage gone bad the same thing. Our submission is that the doctrine should not be applied to annulment cases because a marriage is by nature a dynamic concept. The respective situations of the parties change from one moment to the next. There are just too many factors that can go wrong in a marriage such that the application of the doctrine of res adjudicata would be ridiculous and a legal abnormality. Hope to hear from our readers on this matter.

ANNULMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES

 THE TEN QUESTIONS ON ANNULMENT YOU WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOUR LAWYER BUT WERE AFRAID TO DO SO

Almost every website on Philippine Family Lawyers would have in one form  or another a section on FAQ , or the ubiquitous Frequently Asked Questions. As a lawyer, I could relate very well to these FAQ’s because they are mostly what you will find in legal textbooks . But I have often wondered whether or not  the ordinary layman, the contract worker aborad, or simply the one who is thinking about getting an annulment can understand all the legal goobledook. Normally, these FAQ’s are long winded and very technically worded, with quoted provisions and decisions of the Supreme Court. In our humble attempt at an FAQ, we have decided to narrow the questions to 10 and avoid the legalese. It is not our goal to present the best FAQ on Philippine Annulment, our only object is to be understood well.

1)       What is an  annulment? 

Picture marraige as a contract, a binding agreement between two people, preferably and in most jurisdictions, between a man and a woman. Just like most So contracts, it could be valid, voidable, or void. It is valid if all its components are present, ie, consent, object, and consummation (or euphemistcially delivery as in a contract of sale). In a marriage, of course, consent is the “I do” in the bringing together of a man and a woman in matrimony, holy or otherwise. The object of course is the union of the parties which in the eyes of the law makes them “one”. Lastly, but no less importantly, is the consummation  which in marriage is widely considered the physical (or sexual) union.  Much debate though has been made on whether or not a marriage can exist without sex, at least at the beginning 

Anyway, going back to our analogy, if there is any defect in the consent (the “I do’), the object (the joining together as man and wife), or the consummation (or delivery in more ways than one, pardon the pun), then the validity of the contract is put into question. In an annulment, the defect generally must come into play after the celebration of the marriage or in a stricter sense must have existed at the very  time of, if it is not by itself the very cause of ,  the celebration of the marriage. Things like fraud, as in the case of the woman who conceals the fact that she is pregnant by a man other than her husband who agreed to the marriage on the assumption that he is the father of the child. The marriage is valid in the beginning but because of the fraud, it is valid until it is annulled. Normally, there are periods within which an annulment can be filed.

 In a divorce, on the other hand, and this is the way the term is generally understood in most jurisdictions allowing for divorce, the defect is made manifest after the celebration of the marriage. Things like the infamous “irreconcillable differences” , “no fault divorce”, or “consensual divorce” are common terms. You do not necessarily have to have a specific reason to terminate the marriage, other than the agreement of the spouses.

Legal separation simply put is a separation physically and in most instances financially. It is a court recognition of the fact of separation of the spouses, thus not obliging any of them to support each other or to live together as husband and wife. I have heard this compared to the  Catholic concept of purgatory because the marital union still exists and the parties cannot marry other people. Often this is not a realistic situation and is not commonly encountered in practice because while it attempts to preserve the union, which in all likelihood may have disintegrated by then,  it puts a legal imprimatur (or signature if you will) to not being obliged to fulfill the very important marital obligations of cohabitation or consortium and support.

2)       What are the grounds for an annulment?

Technically, there is a difference between a traditional annulment and a declaration of nullity of marriage under the Family Code. The basic distinction is that the grounds which give rise to annulment are subject to what is known as ratification by cohabitation, meaning that while the ground may have existed at the time of the marriage (such as lack of consent, incapacity, or fraud), by continuing to live together the invalidity is removed.Often, in the real world, these grounds become inoperative because most married couple, let us face it, cohabit after the marriage.

In a declaration of nullity, however, the marriage is invalid from the very start. A common situation is the bigamous marriage which is almost universally considered void from the very beginning. It is wrong from the start and nothing can be done in order to cure the defect in the contract. A common offshoot of a bigamous marriage is when one of the parties want to get married for a third time. The subquestion arises if it is still necessary to annul the bigamous marriage considering that it is already void to begin with. If we are to be guided by the decisions of the Supreme Court there may be a need to have even the bigamous marriage declared null and void because the parties cannot be allowed to presume the invalidity themselves or even to benefit by their own acts which led to the invalidity of the marriage.

 Other examples are incapacity (marriage before the statutory age of consent which varies from one jurisdiction to the next), lack of consent as in a “gun shot wedding”, incestuous (generally between a descendatn and a direct ascendant)  simualtions like a wedding between two men or two women (only when not allowed by the law of a particular state).

A common ground encountered in practice is “psychologicial incapacity” because, as we said, the other grounds for a traditional annulment would have become inoperative because of cohabitation and perhaps because it is a catch all ground that has resisted precise definition by the courts.

3)       What is  psychological incapacity?

 It would seem that  the term psychological incapacity is a relatively popular one among Filipinos, but widely misunderstood. The common and erroneous notion borders on insanity if not insanity itself, which often creates an aversion to seeking  an annulment of the marriage. After all, who will admit to insanity or more specifically marrying the insane.  Article 36 of the Family Code of the Philippines which for the first time since the Japanese Occupation allowed for a semblance of divorce in the Philippines via a declaration of the nullity of a marriage where one or both parties is psychologically incapacitated, did not actually define the term leaving the courts to develop a legal framework for it.  It has been said that this provision of the law was really a compromise between the Philippine Catholic church (which for some reason opposes an absolute divorce law in the Philippines) and the group of legal luminaries which drafted the Family Code. True enough, jurisprudence has evolved a definition based initially and mainly on Canon Law, progressing towards a clinical form of incapacity, to its present state of non clinical incapacity. Perhaps, the term really escapes definitiion, as it should  if it is to evolve legally, the only guidance being the failure to fulfill the essential obligations of the marriage. Conditions such as homosexuality, drug or substance abuse, physical, verbal, psychological, and economic abuse, among others, have been used to define the term.

4)       How do I get started with the process of annulment?

The first step would be to get a lawyer, preferably a specialist in the field of annulment of marriage. Do your bit of research. Get online. Read up on lawyers, attorneys, solicitors (as they are known in the UK) , and law firms. Ask family and friends for recommendations. Don’t settle for  suspicious quick fixes offered online or elsewhere.  You will find a host of people (sadly I have heard that other legitimate lawyers are into it as well) who will promise you the moon and the stars, an annulment in 2 weeks without any hassle, no appearances, in some instances no lawyers or attorneys involved and guaranteed 100%. Remember the old adage that if it sounds too good to be true then it is probably a hoax. Remember too that lawyers if they are worth their salt are not allowed ethically to guarantee the outcome of cases.

The second step would be to write your marital history. This is a detailed narrative of your marriage from the time you met you spouse, a description of the start, middle portion, and end of your relationship, the event that precipitated your separation, with a focus on the personality of your spouse and what about him/her in your mind led to the break up of the relationship.

The third step would be the psychological evaluation process. This varies from one psychologist to the next. Your lawyer normally would recommend a psychologist/psychiatrist who will do the evaluation and be a witness in court. Even court personnel would have a recommnendation or two.  The evaluation costs between 15,000 pesos to as high as 40,000 pesos. Some charge additional per diem for testifying in court and the rate would depend on the venue of the proceedings. Your spouse will be asked to join in, but in most instances they do not participate even in the evaluation process. The psychologist will then proceed to do the evaluation based on your tests and the interviews with you and other persons  who knew you and your spouse and what happened to the marriage.

The fourth step would be the drafting  then filing  of the Petition itself. This is your lawyer’s job.

After the filing of the Petition, which you must sign, the case is raffled to a branch of the Regional Trial Court where it was filed. Your spouse will now be notified by sending him papers called summons requiring him to answer the petition  within 15 days from receipt of the notice. If he is not in the country, notices can be served him through publication.

Collusion investigation normally follows , which is an informal process whereby the public prosecutor assigned to the court (or in some jurisdictions this is raffled as well) is asked to determine if the parties are conspiring to file a case.

After the collusion investigation, a report is prepared by the public prosecutor on the findings of his investigation.

If no collusion is found, the case proceeds to a pre-trial and your spouse will be notified again. If he does not appear, the court will proceed with the marking of the documents, the determination of the number of witnesses, and the schedule of the trial.

During the trial stage, witnesses will be called. Normally, the witnesses would be you, a corroborating witness (who knew you and your spouse and what happened to your marriage), and the psychologist who will testify on the evaluation made. The public prosecutor representing the government will be allowed to question the witnesses as well.

After the trial and the offer of the evidence, the case is then submitted for decision. 

Note that the presence of the spouse is not necessary in the process. In most annulment proceedings, in fact,  the other party to the marriage does not participate anymore. This speeds up the process somewhat because if he makes an appearance, then he will likewise be given the opportunity to present witnesses and evidence.

The uncontested annulment case takes from between 6 months to one year to complete depending on the calendar of the court, the availability of witnesses and other issues such as custody or property.

5)       If  I am  abroad, can I still file and pursue an annulment?

Yes.  Part of the psychological evaluation can be done by email and the interview can be done via VOIP, but most psychologists will ask to see the petitioner in person before releasing the evaluation. Also, after the drafting of the Petition, you may sign the petition in the presence of a Philippine consul authorized to take oaths nearest your place of residence. The authenticated documents are then sent back to the Philippines for filing in court. At a certain point in the proceedings described above, particularly during the trial stage, you will be required to testify and appear in court.

6)       If I am already divorced and married in another country, do I still need to have my marriage annulled?

It depends. If you were still a Filipino citizen at the time you obtained the divorce then you will still be required under Philippine laws to obtain an annulment if you intend to marry again. If you have already changed citizenships, then you may not need an annulment anymore to get married again. However, a gray area exists when you are going to remarry another Filipino in the Philippines in which case you may need to have your divorce recognized in the Philippines first. Another gray area exists in the case of a dual citizen of the Philippines.

7)       What happens to my children and our properties in case of an annulment?

Property relationships are terminated and the assets divided and/or liquidated by the court, unless the parties can come to an agreement regarding this with the approval of the court.

As far as custody is concerned, the general rule is joint custody by the husband and wife unless the children are below 7 years of age in which case presumptive custody is given to the mother with corresponding visitorial privileges for the father. The primary consideration however in custody issues is always the best interests of the child.

 8)  How much will an annulment cost me?

Ah, at last, the proverbial question. It depends of course on the lawyers that you choose, the venue of the case ( out of town cases usually entail more costs and expenses), the issues involved (property and custody issues), the psychologist selected to do the evaluation, among other considerations.

9)       When I file the petition , am I guaranteed to get an annulment?

No, after all there are no guarantees in life. Lawyers as we said earlier are not allowed to guarantee the outcome of cases and you should beware of those (even lawyers) who will promise you that you will win because unless the process is tainted or questionable then there is no way for him to know the outcome. Again, beware of fixers and scams.

10)   Assuming I obtain an annulment and I intend to marry again, what do I have to show as proof of the annulment?

Usually, most foreign embassies would require what is known as a Certiifcate of No Marriage (CENOMAR) from the National Statistics Office.  After a decision is reached in an annulment case, copies are sent to the Office of the Solicitor General, the local civil registrars of the place where the court is sitting and where the marriage contract was registered,  and of course to the parties themselves. After the lapse of 15 days  the decision becomes final and a Certificate of Finality is issued by the court which rendered the decision. This certificate is annotated on the back portion of the marriage contract on file with the local civil registrar where it was originally recorded and finally endorsed to the NSO which then issues the CENOMAR.

So what is annulment??. Picture marraige as a contract, a binding agreement between two people, preferably and in most jurisdictions, between a man and a woman. Just like most contracts, it could be valid, voidable, or void. It is valid if all its components are present, ie, consent, object, and consummation (or euphemistcially delivery as in a contract of sale). In a marriage, of course, consent is the “I do” in the bringing together of a man and a woman in matrimony, holy or otherwise. The object of course is the union of the parties which in the eyes of the law makes them “one”. This is manifest in certain common everyday things like taxation and property. In most jurisdictions, a  married couple is taxed as one entity from a theoretical point of view, and when a person gets married he or she generally enters into a property relationship as well which binds most of what each has earned for the benefit of the family. Lastly, but no less importantly, is the consummation  which in marriage is widely considered the physical (or sexual) union.  Much debate though has been made on whether or not a marriage can exist without sex, at least at the beginning  right?? 

Anyway, going back to our analogy, if there is any defect in the consent (the “I do’), the object (the joining together as man and wife), or the consummation (or delivery in more ways than one, pardon the pun), then the validity of the contract is put into question. In an annulment, the defect generally must come into play after the celebration of the marriage or in a stricter sense must have existed at the very  time of, if it is not by itself the very cause of ,  the celebration of the marriage. Things like fraud, as in the case of the woman who conceals the fact that she is pregnant by a man other than her husband who agreed to the marriage on the assumption that he is the father of the child. The marriage is valid in the beginning but because of the fraud, it is valid until it is annulled. Normally, there are periods within which an annulment can be filed.

 In a divorce, on the other hand, and this is the way the term is generally understood in most jurisdictions allowing for divorce, the defect is made manifest after the celebration of the marriage. Things like the infamous “irreconcillable differences” , “no fault divorce”, or “consensual divorce” are common terms. You do not necessarily have to have a specific reason to terminate the marriage, other than the agreement of the spouses.

In a declaration of nullity, however, the marriage is invalid from the very start. A common situation is the bigamous marriage which is almost universally considered void from the very beginning. It is wrong from the start and nothing can be done in order to cure the defect in the contract. Other examples are incapacity (marriage before the statutory age of consent which varies from one jurisdiction to the next), lack of consent as in a “gun shot wedding”, incestuous (generally between a descendatn and a direct ascendant)  simualtions like a wedding between two men or two women (only when not allowed by the law of a particular state).

PHILIPPINES

INTRODUCTION:

So what is an article on the Philippines doing in a blog on lawyers. Well, since this is a blog about laws and lawyers, it might be informative to our readers (those who still do not know) where exactly , as lawyers and as a people, we are coming from, judging from an historical, cultural, and yes, also a legal perspective.

We will try—and very hard—to be accurate, but mostly we intend to convey “our take” of Philippine history, not as a chronologically correct story of the past but as a continuing annotation of the past as it affects the present and provides a road map to the future. From a cultural and legal points of view, we will only attempt at bridging certain gaps which we fill are there .Because of the wide scope involved in writing about a country and its people, this blog category will be a continuing one and we welcome others to offer their opinions on the regular  releases.

AT A GLANCE:

Officially, the Republic of the Philippines, colonially known as the Philippine Islands (or P.I. to most Americans in their 80’s), and historically as Las Islas Filipinas to its Spanish founders, it is a group of about 7,000  islands in Southeast Asia made up of a population of  diverse Asian and Occidental groups. The official capital of the Philippines is Quezon City but the seat of government as in colonial times is still in the City of Manila where all the three branches of government, the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial still hold offices.  

Originally inhabited by the aboriginal Negritos (blacks in Spanish) and later by waves of Malay and Indonesian migrations from nearby Southeast Asian neighbors, it was known to the ancient Greeks and early Chinese traders, the latter through the centuries  having intermarried with the local population before and after its colonial occupations by Spain in the 16^th century and the United States early in the 20^th century after the former ceded its former territories in the Philippines to the latter via the Treaty of Paris of 1898.

By some accounts, the Philippines culturally may be the most occidental countries in Southeast Asia brought about by more than 300 years of Spanish colonial influence and a half century under the mold of the American public school system of  the early 1900’s. Ironically however, the Spanish language has not been as widely spoken by the native population as English has been in only the last 100 years. It predominates in fact the educational and political systems, so much so that Filipino which is the official national language has to be translated in  documents to its English version  before it is recognized as official.

Politically, the system is a clone of the American Presidential system with a dominant , directly elected President and a bicameral legislature made up of a Senate and a House of Representatives. It follows the Jeffersonian notion of an executive which wields the sword of government , a legislature which holds the purse, and a judicial branch that dispenses justice. Individual rights are governed by a bill of rights  almost directly lifted from the U.S. Constitution.

The Philippines has always maintained a feisty stance against Federalism (or historically being annexed as one of the States of the United States), typified by the rhetorics of the first President of the Philippine Commonwealth, Manuel Luis Quezon, that he would rather have a Philippine ran like hell by Filipinos than a Philippines ran like heaven by Americans. True enough, after World War II when the Philippines emerged as one of the most devastated countries in the world, perhaps next only to Poland, the colonial masters seeing the cost of rehabilitating the territories, not to mention the attitude of  the local politicians, grudgingly granted independence to the Islands on July 4, 1946. But it left the wild oats of the colonial past with a parity amendment to the Philippine constitution which granted Americans equal rights with Filipinos in the utilization of the natural resources of the Philippines. It also left two huge military bases which ranked as the largest military installations outside of the American mainland.  

(We are reprinting with permission the article/column of Atty Susan V. Perez which regularly appears on the Asian Journal, a publication based in San Diego, California, USA)

Orphan Adoption under the Hague Convention by Atty. Susan V. Perez

Family relationships serve as a basis to apply for legal permanent residence status.  I became a legal permanent resident through my father.  I was a child when my father filed a petition on my behalf.  I waited for ten years before my visa finally arrived.  By then, I was already an adult but still single.  Child is defined as unmarried and under 21 years old.  It includes adopted children but adoption must have occurred before the 16^th birthday except if you are adopting a sibling of an adopted child.  In this case, 18 years is the age limit. It doesn’t matter if the first child adopted was the 18 years old. If you adopt a natural sibling whose age is below 16 the 18 year-old can still be petition. 

For adopted children, the law requires two years physical and legal custody.  Most U.S. citizens who wish to adopt children from the Philippines are unable to comply with the two-year physical custody requirement because they have jobs in the U.S. which they would lose if they stay in the Philippines for an extended period of time.  The two-year legal custody requirement is easier to comply.  They just need to wait for two years from the time the decree of adoption is issued.  In case of orphan adoption, there is no need for two years physical and legal custody.  A child is considered an orphan because of the death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents, or if the sole or surviving parent is incapable of providing the child with proper care and irrevocably releases the child for emigration and adoption. In orphan adoptions, the petitioner must be a U.S. citizen. If married, the spouse must join the petition. If the petitioner is single, he or she must be at least 25 years old.

The immigration process of an orphan child adopted from the Philippines must comply with the procedures under the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption (Hague Adoption Convention).  The Hague Adoption Convention is an international treaty to safeguard intercountry adoptions and applies to countries who joined the treaty such as the United States and the Philippines.  The first step is to find an accredited adoption service provider which will conduct the home study of the adopting parent.  A list of these provides can be found in the State Department website.  The second  step is to file the I-800A, Application for Determination of Suitability to Adopt a Child form a Convention Country, along with the home study and other documents with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).  Once the I-800A is approved, the I-800, Petition to Classify Convention Adoptee as Immediate Relative must be filed.  USCIS will review the I-800 to determine if the child qualifies as a Convention adoptee. .

As soon as Form I-800 is provisionally approved, it will be forwarded to the visa issuing post for final approval.  The petitioner will be contacted by the National Visa Center that the papers have been forwarded to U.S. consulate or embassy abroad.  The consulate or embassy will then contact the petitioner with instructions for the next step and documents needed.  Among the documents needed for the initial interview are: DS-230 parts 1 and 2, child’s birth certificate, pictures and passport of the child, and results of physical  exam of the child.

The petitioner should not adopt or obtain custody of the child until the consulate or embassy issues the Article 5 letter.  After the petitioner receives the Article 5 letter, only then should he or she files the adoption or obtain custody of the child.  After the adoption decree is submitted to the consulate or embassy, the petitioner will be contacted for interview.

The consular officer will review the I-800 for approval.  One ground for denial of the I-800 is when the petitioner completed the adoption of the child or acquired legal custody of the child before the provisional approval of Form I-800.  Another ground for denial of the I-800 is when the petitioner or any adult member of the household had met with, or had any other form of contact with, the child’s parents or legal custodian unless the contact is permitted by law.  Contact is permitted if: 1) the first contact occurred after USCIS had approved the Form I-800A and after the competent authority of the Convention country had determined that the child is eligible for intercountry adoption and that the required consents to the adoption have been given; or 2) the competent authority of the Convention country had permitted earlier contact; or 3) the petitioner was already before the adoption, the father , mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, first cousin, second cousin,  nephew, niece, husband, former husband, wife, former wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, stepfather, stepmother, stepson, stepdaughter, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother or half-sister of the child’s parent(s).

At the final interview, the consular officer will approve or deny the I-800.  If approved, a U.S. visa will be issued to the adoptee.   The IH-3 visa is issued to the child who was adopted in the home country and the child becomes a U.S. citizen as soon as he or she entered the United States as long as he or she is under 18 years old.  The IH-4 visa is issued to the child who will be adopted in the United States.  They do not automatically become U.S. citizens upon entry to the United States.  They are legal permanent residents until the adoption becomes final.      

We welcome your feedback. If you have any immigration questions, please feel welcome to email me at susan@law-usimmigration.com or contact us at 619 819 -8648 to arrange for a telephone consultation.

*Susan V. Perez, Esq.  is a licensed attorney in California and the Philippines.

The world is shrinking and people live in a global village where diversity, innovation, and strategic presence are the collective mantra of the Information Age. Trade and regulatory barriers have been broken and an increasing number of companies are looking beyond their borders towards richer markets in the developing world. The year 2000 heralded to not a few the Pacific century, and fittingly so with the emergence of China as an economic powerhouse rivaling the long standing pre-eminence of the United States, Japan, and Europe.

So…Why the Philippines?

1) Favorable tax regulations

The Philippines is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a tax haven. But for the serious investor with a long-term outlook, the Philippines offers tax incentives, tax holidays for pioneer industries particularly in the Information Technology sector where global growth is viewed in geometric terms, area or regional headquarters of offshore companies, a capital gains tax exemption for any sale or exchange of stocks for property, and an affinity towards the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

2) Facility in registering corporations and partnerships.

The Philippines has probably one of the lowest prescribed paid up capitals in the world at PHP5,000, a Corporation Code allowing for the holding of bearer stocks with very few restrictions, requiring a minimum of only five (5) incorporators to register a corporation, allowing for the registration of foreign corporations and the appointment of a representative office without any prescribed capital outlay for infrastructure, with very few nationalization restrictions, and with an “express lane” for processing applications for registration of corporations and partnerships.

3) A developing market with a hospitable investment climate

The late 1990’s saw the Philippine stock market as one of the best performers in the Asia Pacific Region and into the millennium the country has remained to be one of the top exporters in the region. With several export processing zones and a long standing set of tax and capital equipment incentives for pioneer industries, and with a long-awaited political stalemate finally being resolved, the Philippines is once again a favored destination of investments in high-end electronics and semiconductors to footwear and clothes. Lately, the country has developed into a business process outsourcing and call center site in the heart of Southeast Asia. Competing with India with its fast growing industries, major multinationals such as Dell Computers and IBM have set up operations in the Philippines.

4) Skilled and educated labor force

Well-known companies ranging from the I.T. to Semiconductor industry have seen the advantages of establishing their offshore offices in the Philippines. Various I.T. firms such as Emerson, SPL, Siemens, and Intel have massively hired computer graduates in the country to provide offshore services to clients worldwide. Aside from the I.T. industry, many Filipinos are skilled in the communications, medical, and legal field.

5) Low cost of living and doing business

More and more international companies are seeing the value of establishing low cost global offshore centers in the Philippines. These companies are estimated to have savings of about 30% to 50% of their usual operating costs in countries with higher costs of living.

6) Familiar and compliant legal system

The legal concepts on property rights, business, contracts, government, personal rights, and other fields of law are offshoots of 50 years of American colonial rule. With the American and British legal models being the norm in international commerce and business, companies will readily adapt to the legal system with very little adjustment in their day-to-day operations.

7) Multicultural and diversified

With around 7,107 islands, this archipelago is host to 8 major dialects, more than 6 religions, and individuals with diverse nationalities. Filipino Chinese business communities and other groups of expatriates are scattered throughout the major islands of the Philippines from Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, and the former locations of the military bases in Pampanga.

8) English proficiency

Having been educated in the American educational system with English as one of the official languages and primary medium of instruction, the Filipino worker readily adapts to training and work across the spectrum of the labor market, from the semiconductor industry and outsourced legal and business processes.

9) Vibrant democracy

The Philippines in the 60’s and 70’s was the showcase of democracy in Asia. Then came Martial Rule under Ferdinand Marcos which underscored what was tamely referred to then as constitutional dictatorship. The late 80’s to the present saw the country regaining its more democratic and republican traditions, in the process opening itself up as a haven and market for the free world.

10) Strategic geographical location

Few countries in the Asia Pacific corridor enjoy a more strategic economic location than the Philippines. It is a few hours from the capital markets of Hong Kong and Shanghai in Mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Japan.

Specifically, the firm offers the following services to individuals and companies with a global outlook:

• ORGANIZATION, INCORPORATION, AND REGISTRATION OF CORPORATIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS
• INTRODUCTION AND REFERRAL TO BANKS AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS FOR INVESTMENT FINANCING AND CORPORATE ADMINISTRATION
• DOCUMENT RETRIEVAL AND SEARCH SERVICES
• LEGAL, CORPORATE, AND FINANCIAL SERVICES

Lately, we have noticed a proliferation of search hits on annulment scams in the Philippines and the recent decision of the Philippine Supreme Court which allegedly did not allow the annulment of a marriage where the husband was gay. Just like anything else on the web, a piece of information must be filtered like coffee before it is swallowedr. I was on the plane from Los Angeles with my daughter after spending the Christmas holidays in recession-stricken America when I struck a conversation with an American on board the connecting flight to Manila from Japan. After I told him that I am a practicing lawyer with annulment clients in the States, he passionately  narrated to me his sad experience with the annulment of the marriage of his girlfriend.  It truns out that he had paid a lawyer a small  fortune to take care of the annulment case, but that after two years nothing happened. This prompted his girfriend who resides somewhere in Mindanao to shop around for some help. She not only found help, but a judge to boot to take care of the annulment for a measly 50,000 pesos all in and guaranteed to be done in 2 weeks or so. It was at this point in the conversation when I told him that her girlfriend should have been careful about fixers  and judges who have been investigated and/or disciplined by the Supreme Court. I also commented that the documents would not hold when his girlfriend attempts to get a Certificate of No Marriage and that   I have been reading about sad and desperate stories on these scams and the efforts taken by the Office of the Court Administrator of the Philippine Supreme Court to weed out these judges.

In an Australian law blog no less (http://lgbtlawblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/philippines-annulment-cannot-happen.html), the headline reads “Philippines:Annulment Cannot Happen Merely Because a Man is Gay” citing the case of Almelor vs. Almelor. If the publicity holds, it would indeed be a landmark decision, not to mention a notch for gay rights….BUT HELLO….in the Philippines???

When you read cases for a living, reading another one (without getting paid for it) is a difficult task. But read the case, I did…. and like actress Susan Roces…..not once but twice.

To my mind, the decision did not actually say that  the homosexuality of one spouse is not a ground for annulment. True, there are statements in the decision to the effect that what is actually a ground for annulment is the concealment thereof. These statements appear to be obiter though. To the layman, this means simply that the court’s statement  should be taken within the context of the entire case most especially the facts threreof. On this score, the Court said that while the wife alleged the homosexuality of the husband she however was not able to prove it. There, effectively since it was not proven then it could not be used as a ground for the annulment. But what if it were proven. Woudl the court rule otherwise?? Most probably, because unless the Philippine Supreme Court makes a juridical quantum leap and overstep the legal controvery even in the United States on gay marriages, the Civil Code still states that a marriage must be between a man and a woman. But is that biologically or psychologically??…That deserves another post.

As our first blog item after the welcome portion, we decided to  pose, and hopefully answer, the question :  what is psychological incapacity?? It would seem that  the term psychological incapacity is a relatively popular one among Filipinos, but widely misunderstood. The common and erroneous notion borders on insanity if not insanity itself, which often creates an aversion to seeking  an annulment of the marriage. After all, who will admit to insanity or more specifically marrying the insane.  Article 36 of the Family Code of the Philippines which for the first time since the Japanese Occupation allowed for a semblance of divorce in the Philippines via a declaration of the nullity of a marriage where one or both parties is psychologically incapacitated, did not actually define the term leaving the courts to develop a legal framework for it.  It has been said that this provision of the law was really a compromise between the Philippine Catholic church (which for some reason opposes an absolute divorce law in the Philippines) and the group of legal luminaries which drafted the Family Code. True enough, jurisprudence has evolved a definition based initially and mainly on Canon Law, progressing towards a clinical form of incapacity, to its present state of non clinical incapacity. Perhaps, the term really escapes definitiion, as it should  if it is to evolve legally, the only guidance being the failure to fulfill the essential obligations of the marriage. Conditions such as homosexuality, drug or substance abuse, physical, verbal, psychological, and economic abuse, among others, have been used to define the term. From a legally theoretical point of view then , it should be very difficult to obtain an annulment but the Office of the Solicitor General pointed to the fact that there were more than 7,000 petitions for annulment filed this year alone. Why the deluge if one has to go through the eye of a needle just to right what is wrong.  Would our legislators, by failing to come up with an honest to goodness divorce law finally see the light or the hypocrisy of it all.  Should there be pride in the fact that divorce is not legal only in the Philippines and Malta, but is allowed around the rest of the world, and particularly in  Italy where the hallowed walls of the Vatican is?  Should we be more popish than the Pope? To my mind, the fact alone that people cannot seem to live together harmoniously if not idylically and would choose to be separated from each other and be with someone else (which is usually the situation when one starts to approach a lawyer for a possible annulment ) is proof enough of incapacity.  Was it Elizabeth I of England, after ordering off the head of one of her rumored lovers,  who said that the most difficult thing to govern is the heart? What say you? 

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