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The House of Representatives, voting 202-3 without abstention, approved Wednesday night on third and final reading House Bill 7185, seeking to recognize the foreign degree of termination of marriage and allowing its subsequent registration with the Philippine Civil Registry.

The bill seeks to amend Executive Order (EO) No. 209, otherwise known as the "Family Code of the Philippines," a statement from the House of Representatives said Saturday.

The proposed amendment to Article 13 of EO 209 states that “The Filipino spouse need not seek recognition or enforcement of the foreign decree of termination of marriage. The registration of the duly authenticated foreign decree of termination in the Philippine Civil Registry shall be sufficient proof of capacity to remarry”.

It further states that “Where a marriage between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner is celebrated and a decree of termination of marriage is thereafter obtained abroad by either spouse and subsequently registered in the Philippine Civil Registry as provided in Article 13 hereof, the Filipino spouse shall likewise have capacity to remarry under the Philippine Law”.

The amendment states that Article 412 of the Civil Code shall not apply in recognizing the termination of marriages referred therein.

Salient provisions of the bill can be availed by a Filipino who is married to a foreigner whose marriage has been terminated abroad by either spouse, including a Filipino whose marriage has been terminated abroad prior to the effectivity of the proposed law; who has been divorced from a spouse who had subsequently acquired foreign citizenship; or who has subsequently acquired foreign citizenship and who has divorced from the Filipino spouse abroad. DMS