Foreigners, beware!

THERE are hundreds of foreigners who are my friends and my clients. They come to the Philippines with the best of intentions.
Many a wary soul sold all their property in their home country, brought all their money here, all in the hope of settling down, finding the final love of their lives, enjoying the company of friends and their new-found families, extended families of their wives or girlfriends, a new life, a new beginning.

Many of these friends of mine are above 50 years old. Some are even over 70 years old. Many have pensions and some have nothing left in their homelands by way of real property. Not even a business. In short, they laid their final bets in life in this Pearl of the Orient–the Philippines. And so these foreigners–whom we refer to as “aliens”–invested their millions of pesos on lands over which they built houses, established beach resorts, started farmlands, planted vegetables and raised livestock. They marry young girls, sire a few kids, and hope for the best.

And for many, the best was not to come. The worst came. Many found conflicts at home with their young wives unbearable, and they filed for annulment. Oftentimes, it is the wife that files for annulment of marriage, or seeks a Protection Order from the court, deprive the alien of their children, and seek to dissolve the property relations. Then the foreigner losses the lands they bought with their lifetime of earnings and savings. In the case of a Dutch whose marriage to a Filipina was annulled and the property relations was dissolved by the court, the Supreme Court ruled on appeal that the Dutchman whose money from his retirement funds were used to buy the four parcels of land with two houses on them was not, I repeat, not entitled to any reimbursement of the money used to purchase the lands.

He gets nothing from his money he invested with his wife to buy the lands, bought in the name of his wife because of the Constitution’s provision prohibiting aliens from owning lands. There is not even a co-ownership of the lands and the wife gets everything, every square meter. The legal basis of this ruling is that the alien cannot be allowed to circumvent or skirt around or avoid the prohibition of owning lands by putting the lands in his wife’s name and later asking for one-half reimbursement if their marriage is annulled or if they separate. According to the High court, the alien and his wife are in pari delicto, or both come to court with dirty hands and the court will leave them as they are––meaning, the ex-wife in whose name the lands are registered will get all the land. No reimbursement to the alien who originally owned the money to buy all the lands.

As a consolation, however, the court said the two houses have to be divided in half and the alien ex-husband can get half refunded to him as the only prohibition of the Constitution is the alien ownership of lands. The tools and equipment, cars and boats, kitchen utensils and anything considered personal property will have to be divided in half. Such a great loss indeed for the foreigner. So the next time a foreigner comes to marry a Filipina, he should be aware; he should beware of this constitutional prohibition of owning lands. Buying land in the name of his wife or girlfriend is a double-whammy. He would lose both his wife and the land if misfortune besets him in the future.

Of course, there are legal remedies available to the foreigner if he really intends to buy lands. He can create a domestic corporation and buy the lands under the corporation’s name. But that is another topic that I may discuss in the future, or may discuss in the confines of my law office only. You all understand why. This ruling in the case of Willem Beumer versus Avelina Amores (G.R. No. 195670, December 3, 2012) is a warning. Don’t try to circumvent the law. It also serves as warning to all foreigners coming to the Philippines: Don’t be stupid!

E-mail: joepallugna@yahoo.com