No divorce in Philippine civil law

By Butch Bagabuyo

“Lawyers’ are like lovers’ quarrels.”––Lord Campbell, English jurist

“If there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers.”––Charles Dickens

“Lawyers are gentlemen who write rights and right wrongs.”––Legal cracks

AS a media practitioner and a member of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC) as well as a litigation lawyer for over 30 years, I owe it to my profession and to all concerned to make sure that the public is not confused by misleading, if not outright incorrect, legal opinion and/or assumptions.

In the opinion pages of this paper recently, I came across a piece entitled “Allowing divorce in civil law.” With due respect and with malice to none, this is not true!

It is absolutely wrong to allege even for a flitting moment that there is divorce under our civil law. There is absolutely none. There are, however, proposals which have been languishing in the confines of Congress, proposals to enact of a civil law on divorce in the country.

What we now have in our country is a divorce law for Muslims (not for all Pinoys) based on Presidential Decree No. 1083 of Feb. 4, 1977, issued by then-President Ferdinand E. Marcos. The decree is otherwise known as The Code of Muslim Personal Law of the Philippines.

For the benefit of all concerned, PD 1083 is part of the law of our land and therefore applicable and enforceable in our country––but only for Muslims. It is definitely not part of the Civil Code of the Philippines which is otherwise known as Republic Act No. 386 of June 18, 1949, as amended. And in order to prevent confusion among the readers, I, in all humility, state categorically that the Philippine Civil Courts have no jurisdiction to grant divorce by reason of PD 1083. It is only the Shari’a courts in designated areas, among them the Armm and other parts of the country where these courts are established pursuant to law, that can grant and/or hear and decide divorce cases among Muslims and/or the so-called mixed marriages among Muslims and persons belonging to other faiths but wed under and by virtue of PD 1083 or its precursor. But take note that under Muslim customs and traditions, which is part of PD 1083, non-Muslims have to be converted first before any Muslim marriage may be validly performed in the Philippines.

Setting humility aside, I’ve won only on June 4, 2011, in the Supreme Court, the case of Atty. Marietta D. Zamoranos vs. People of the Philippines and Samson Pacasum Sr. (G.R. nos. 193902, 193908 and 194075). The decision became final and executory in September 2011 when the Supreme Court ordered the Regional Trial Court-Branch 4 in Iligan City to dismiss the case of bigamy against my client for the reason that the Regional Trial Courts have no jurisdiction over Muslims who have entered into what is known as “mixed marriages”––the parties first enter into a Muslim marriage and thereafter contract a second civil marriage; such marriages are usual in the Philippines between Muslims and non-Muslims. In all humility, that decision by the Supreme Court is a precedent-setting case.

Dinhi lang una kita kutob. Og, palihug, dad-a ang kamatuoran nga dii kinahangan iguhit ang kabilin sa tableta o papel kay tua mo barog ang imong bantayog sa mga dughan sa imong mga gibilinan hangud sa ka hangturan!

(For comments, text/call at 0918 803 0197 or e-mail to bagabuyos@yahoo.com. The views expressed by the author, a former senior state prosecutor, are exclusively his own and do not necessarily reflect those of GSD and its staff.)