THE FAMILY CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES
Void and Voidable Marriages
TITLE I
MARRIAGE
Chapter 1. Requisites of Marriage
Art. 10. Marriages between Filipino citizens abroad may be
solemnized by a consul-general, consul or vice-consul of the
Republic of the Philippines. The issuance of the marriage license and
the duties of the local civil registrar and of the solemnizing officer with
regard to the celebration of marriage shall be performed by said
consular official. (75a)
Art. 21. When either or both of the contracting parties are citizens of
a foreign country, it shall be necessary for them before a marriage
license can be obtained, to submit a certificate of legal capacity to
contract marriage, issued by their respective diplomatic or consular
officials.
Stateless persons or refugees from other countries shall, in lieu of the
certificate of legal capacity herein required, submit an affidavit stating
the circumstances showing such capacity to contract marriage. (66a)
Art. 26. All marriages solemnized outside the Philippines, in
accordance with the laws in force in the country where they were
solemnized, and valid there as such, shall also be valid in this
country, except those prohibited under Articles 35 (1), (4), (5) and (6),
3637 and 38. (17a)
Where a marriage between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner is validly
celebrated and a divorce is thereafter validly obtained abroad by the
alien spouse capacitating him or her to remarry, the Filipino spouse
shall have capacity to remarry under Philippine law. (As amended by
Executive Order 227)
Chapter 3.
Art. 35. The following marriages shall be void from the beginning:
1) Those contracted by any party below eighteen years of
age even with the consent of parents or guardians;
2) Those solemnized by any person not legally authorized to
perform marriages unless such marriages were
contracted with either or both parties believing in good
faith that the solemnizing officer had the legal authority to
do so;
3) Those solemnized without license, except those covered
the preceding Chapter;
4) Those bigamous or polygamous marriages not failing
under Article 41;
5) Those contracted through mistake of one contracting
party as to the identity of the other; and
6) Those subsequent marriages that are void under Article
53.
Art. 36. A marriage contracted by any party who, at the time of the
celebration, was psychologically incapacitated to comply with the
essential marital obligations of marriage, shall likewise be void even if
such incapacity becomes manifest only after its solemnization. (As
amended by Executive Order 227)
Art. 37. Marriages between the following are incestuous and void
from the beginning, whether relationship between the parties be
legitimate or illegitimate:
1) Between ascendants and descendants of any degree;
and
2) Between brothers and sisters, whether of the full or half
blood. (81a)
Art. 38. The following marriages shall be void from the beginning for
reasons of public policy:
1) Between collateral blood relatives whether legitimate or
illegitimate, up to the fourth civil degree;
2) Between step-parents and step-children;
3) Between parents-in-law and children-in-law;
4) Between the adopting parent and the adopted child;
5) Between the surviving spouse of the adopting parent and
the adopted child;
6) Between the surviving spouse of the adopted child and
the adopter;
7) Between an adopted child and a legitimate child of the
adopter;
8) Between adopted children of the same adopter; and
9) Between parties where one, with the intention to marry
the other, killed that other person's spouse, or his or her
own spouse. (82)
TITLE IV
PROPERTY RELATIONS BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE
Chapter 1. General Provisions
Art. 80. In the absence of a contrary stipulation in a marriage
settlement, the property relations of the spouses shall be governed by
Philippine laws, regardless of the place of the celebration of the
marriage and their residence.
This rule shall not apply:
(1) Where both spouses are aliens;
(2) With respect to the extrinsic validity of contracts affecting
property not situated in the Philippines and executed in the
country where the property is located; and
(3) With respect to the extrinsic validity of contracts entered into
in the Philippines but affecting property situated in a foreign
country whose laws require different formalities for its
extrinsic validity. (124a)
TITLE VII
ADOPTION
Art. 184. The following persons may not adopt:
1) The guardian with respect to the ward prior to the
approval of the final accounts rendered upon the
termination of their guardianship relation;
2) Any person who has been convicted of a crime involving
moral turpitude;
3) An alien, except:
a) A former Filipino citizen who seeks to adopt a
relative by consanguinity;
b) One who seeks to adopt the legitimate child of his
or her Filipino spouse; or
c) One who is married to a Filipino citizen and seeks
to adopt jointly with his or her spouse a relative by
consanguinity of the latter.
Aliens not included in the foregoing exceptions may adopt
Filipino children in accordance with the rules on inter-country
adoptions as may be provided by law. (28a, EO 91 and PD
603)
Art. 187. The following may not be adopted:
(1) A person of legal age, unless he or she is a child by
nature of the adopter or his or her spouse, or, prior to the
adoption, said person has been consistently considered and
treated by the adopter as his or her own child during minority.
(2) An alien with whose government the Republic of the
Philippines has no diplomatic relations; and
(3) A person who has already been adopted unless such
adoption has been previously revoked or rescinded. (30a, EO
91 and PD 603)
 CIVIL CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES
PRELIMINARY TITLE
CHAPTER 1
Effect and Application of Laws
Article 14. Penal laws and those of public security and safety shall
be obligatory upon all who live or sojourn in the Philippine territory,
subject to the principles of public international law and to treaty
stipulations. (8a)
Article 15. Laws relating to family rights and duties, or to the status,
condition and legal capacity of persons are binding upon citizens of
the Philippines, even though living abroad. (9a)
Article 16. Real property as well as personal property is subject to
the law of the country where it is stipulated.
However, intestate and testamentary successions, both with respect
to the order of succession and to the amount of successional rights
and to the intrinsic validity of testamentary provisions, shall be
regulated by the national law of the person whose succession is
under consideration, whatever may be the nature of the property and
regardless of the country wherein said property may be found. (10a)
Article 17. The forms and solemnities of contracts, wills, and other
public instruments shall be governed by the laws of the country in
which they are executed.
CHAPTER 2
Testamentary Succession
SECTION 1
Wills
SUBSECTION 3. Forms of Wills
Article 815. When a Filipino is in a foreign country, he is authorized
to make a will in any of the forms established by the law of the
country in which he may be. Such will may be probated in the
Philippines. (n)
Article 816. The will of an alien who is abroad produces effect in the
Philippines if made with the formalities prescribed by the law of the
place in which he resides, or according to the formalities observed in
his country, or in conformity with those which this Code prescribes.
(n)
Article 817. A will made in the Philippines by a citizen or subject of
another country, which is executed in accordance with the law of the
country of which he is a citizen or subject, and which might be proved
and allowed by the law of his own country, shall have the same effect
as if executed according to the laws of the Philippines. (n)
Article 818. Two or more persons cannot make a will jointly, or in the
same instrument, either for their reciprocal benefit or for the benefit of
a third person. (669)
Article 819. Wills, prohibited by the preceding article, executed by
Filipinos in a foreign country shall not be valid in the Philippines, even
though authorized by the laws of the country where they may have
been executed. (733a)
 CHAPTER 2 REVISED PENAL CODE
Essential Requisites of Contracts
BOOK ONE
General Provisions GENERAL PROVISIONS REGARDING THE DATE OF
ENFORCEMENT AND APPLICATION OF THE PROVISIONS OF
SECTION 1 THIS CODE, AND REGARDING THE OFFENSES, THE PERSONS
Consent LIABLE AND THE PENALTIES

Article 1319. Consent is manifested by the meeting of the offer and

the acceptance upon the thing and the cause which are to constitute
the contract. The offer must be certain and the acceptance absolute.
A qualified acceptance constitutes a counter-offer.
Acceptance made by letter or telegram does not bind the offerer
except from the time it came to his knowledge. The contract, in such
a case, is presumed to have been entered into in the place where the
offer was made. (1262a)
Article 2. Application of its provisions. - Except as provided in the
treaties and laws of preferential application, the provisions of this
Code shall be enforced not only within the Philippine Archipelago,
including its atmosphere, its interior waters and maritime zone, but
also outside of its jurisdiction, against those who:
1. Should commit an offense while on a Philippine ship or
airship

2. Should forge or counterfeit any coin or currency note of the

SECTION 4 Philippine Islands or obligations and securities issued by the
Common Carriers (n) Government of the Philippine Islands;

SUBSECTION 2. Vigilance Over Goods
Article 1753. The law of the country to which the goods are to be
transported shall govern the liability of the common carrier for their
loss, destruction or deterioration.
3. Should be liable for acts connected with the introduction
into these islands of the obligations and securities mentioned
in the presiding number;
4. While being public officers or employees, should commit an
offense in the exercise of their functions; or

5. Should commit any of the crimes against national security

and the law of nations, defined in Title One of Book Two of
this Code.
 REVISED CORPORATION CODE
TITLE XV
FOREIGN CORPORATIONS
Section 140. Definition of Righs of Foreign Corporations. - For
purposes of this Code, a foreign corporation is one formed, organized
or existing under laws other than those of the Philippines' and whose
laws allow Filipino citizens and corporations to do business in its own
country or State. It shall have the right to transact business in the
Philippines after obtaining a license for that purpose in accordance
with this Code and certificate of authority from the appropriate
government agency.
Section 146. Law Applicable. - A foreign corporation lawfully doing
business in the Philippines shall be bound by all laws, rules and
regulations applicable to domestic corporations of the same class,
except those which provide for the creation, formation, organization
or dissolution of corporations or those which fix the relations,
liabilities, responsibilities, or duties of stockholders, members or
officers of corporations to each other or to the corporation.
Section 150. Doing Business Without a License. - No foreign
corporation transacting business in the Philippines without a license,
or its successor or assigns, shall be permitted to maintain or
intervene in any action, suit or proceeding in any court or
administrative agency of the Philippines; but such corporation may be
sued or proceeded against before the Philippin courts or
administrative tribunals on any valid cause of action recognized under
Philippine laws.
THE 1987 CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE IV
CITIZENSHIP
Section 1. The following are citizens of the Philippines:
1. Those who are citizens of the Philippines at the time of the
adoption of this Constitution;
2. Those whose fathers or mothers are citizens of the
Philippines;
3. Those born before January 17, 1973, of Filipino mothers, who
elect Philippine Citizenship upon reaching the age of majority;
and
4. Those who are naturalized in the accordance with law.
Section 2. Natural-born citizens are those who are citizens of the
Philippines from birth without having to perform any act to acquire or
perfect their Philippine citizenship. Those who elect Philippine
citizenship in accordance with paragraph (3), Section 1 hereof shall
be deemed natural-born citizens.
Section 3. Philippine citizenship may be lost or reacquired in the
manner provided by law.
Section 4. Citizens of the Philippines who marry aliens shall retain
their citizenship, unless by their act or omission they are deemed,
under the law to have renounced it.
Section 5. Dual allegiance of citizens is inimical to the national
interest and shall be dealt with by law.
 RULES OF COURT
RULE 14
Summons
Section 15. Extraterritorial service. — When the defendant does not
reside and is not found in the Philippines, and the action affects the
personal status of the plaintiff or relates to, or the subject of which is,
property within the Philippines, in which the defendant has or claims a
lien or interest, actual or contingent, or in which the relief demanded
consists, wholly or in part, in excluding the defendant from any
interest therein, or the property of the defendant has been attached
within the Philippines, service may, by leave of court, be effected out
of the Philippines by personal service as under section 6; or by
publication in a newspaper of general circulation in such places and
for such time as the court may order, in which case a copy of the
summons and order of the court shall be sent by registered mail to
the last known address of the defendant, or in any other manner the
court may deem sufficient. Any order granting such leave shall
specify a reasonable time, which shall not be less than sixty (60) days
after notice, within which the defendant must answer. (17a)
Section 16. Residents temporarily out of the Philippines. — When
any action is commenced against a defendant who ordinarily resides
within the Philippines, but who is temporarily out of it, service may, by
leave of court, be also effected out of the Philippines, as under the
preceding section. (18a)
RULE 39
Execution, Satisfaction and Effect of Judgments
Section 48. Effect of foreign judgments or final orders. — The effect
of a judgment or final order of a tribunal of a foreign country, having
jurisdiction to render the judgment or final order is as follows:
(a) In case of a judgment or final order upon a specific thing,
the judgment or final order, is conclusive upon the title to the
thing, and
(b) In case of a judgment or final order against a person, the
judgment or final order is presumptive evidence of a right as
between the parties and their successors in interest by a
subsequent title.
In either case, the judgment or final order may be repelled by
evidence of a want of jurisdiction, want of notice to the party,
collusion, fraud, or clear mistake of law or fact. (50a)