SOURCES OF CONFLICT OF LAWS

FAMILY CODE
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)
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)

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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)
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)
Art. 96. The administration and enjoyment of the
community property shall belong to both spouses jointly. In
case of disagreement, the husband's decision shall prevail,
subject to recourse to the court by the wife for proper
remedy, which must be availed of within five years from
the date of the contract implementing such decision.
In the event that one spouse is incapacitated or otherwise
unable to participate in the administration of the common
properties, the other spouse may assume sole powers of
administration. These powers do not include disposition or
encumbrance without authority of the court or the written
consent of the other spouse. In the absence of such
authority or consent, the disposition or encumbrance shall
be void. However, the transaction shall be construed as a

SOURCES OF CONFLICT OF LAWS

continuing offer on the part of the consenting spouse and
the third person, and may be perfected as a binding
contract upon the acceptance by the other spouse or
authorization by the court before the offer is withdrawn by
either or both offerors. (206a)
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 intercountry adoptions as may be provided by law. (28a, E. O.
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, E. O. 91 and PD 603)
CIVIL CODE
Art. 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)
Art. 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)
Art. 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

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and regardless of the country wherein said property may
be found. (10a)
Art. 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.
When the acts referred to are executed before the
diplomatic or consular officials of the Republic of the
Philippines in a foreign country, the solemnities
established by Philippine laws shall be observed in their
execution.
Prohibitive laws concerning persons, their acts or property,
and those which have, for their object, public order, public
policy and good customs shall not be rendered ineffective
by laws or judgments promulgated, or by determinations or
conventions agreed upon in a foreign country. (11a)
Art. 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)
Art. 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)
Art. 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)
Art. 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)
Art. 829. A revocation done outside the Philippines, by a
person who does not have his domicile in this country, is
valid when it is done according to the law of the place
where the will was made, or according to the law of the
place in which the testator had his domicile at the time;
and if the revocation takes place in this country, when it is
in accordance with the provisions of this Code. (n)
Art. 1039. Capacity to succeed is governed by the law of
the nation of the decedent. (n)
Art. 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

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entered into in the place where the offer was made.
(1262a)

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Art. 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.

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 naturalborn citizens.

PENAL CODE

Section 3. Philippine citizenship may be lost or reacquired

in the manner provided by law.

Art. 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 Philippine Islands or obligations and
securities issued by the Government of the Philippine
Islands;
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.
CORPORATION CODE
Sec. 133. Doing business without a license. No foreign
corporation transacting business in the Philippines without
a license, or its successors 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 Philippine courts or administrative tribunals on any
valid cause of action recognized under Philippine laws.
(69a)
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 accordance with 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.
ARTICLE V SUFFRAGE
Section 1. Suffrage may be exercised by all citizens of the
Philippines not otherwise disqualified by law, who are at
least eighteen years of age, and who shall have resided in
the Philippines for at least one year, and in the place
wherein they propose to vote, for at least six months
immediately preceding the election. No literacy, property,
or other substantive requirement shall be imposed on the
exercise of suffrage.
RULES OF COURT
RULE 14 SUMMONS
Section 1. Clerk to issue summons. Upon the filing of the
complaint and the payment of the requisite legal fees, the
clerk of court shall forthwith issue the corresponding
summons to the defendants.
Sec. 2. Contents. The summons shall be directed to the
defendant, signed by the clerk of court under seal, and
contain:
(a) the name of the court and the names of the parties
to the action;
(b) a direction that the defendant answer within the
time fixed by these Rules;
(c) a notice that unless the defendant so answers,
plaintiff will take judgment by default and may be
granted the relief applied for.
A copy of the complaint and order for appointment of
guardian ad litem, if any, shall be attached to the original
and each copy of the summons.
Sec. 3. By whom served. The summons may be served by
the sheriff, his deputy, or other proper court officer, or for
justifiable reasons by any suitable person authorized by
the court issuing the summons.
Sec. 4. Return. When the service has been completed, the
server shall, within five (5) days therefrom, serve a copy of
the return, personally or by registered mail, to the plaintiff's

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counsel, and shall return the summons to the clerk who
issued it, accompanied by proof of service.
Sec. 5. Issuance of alias summons. If a summons is
returned without being served on any or all of the
defendants, the server shall also serve a copy of the return
on the plaintiff's counsel, stating the reasons for the failure
of service, within five (5) days therefrom. In such a case,
or if the summons has been lost, the clerk, on demand of
the plaintiff, may issue an alias summons.
Sec. 6. Service in person on defendant. Whenever
practicable, the summons shall be served by handing a
copy thereof to the defendant in person, or, if he refuses to
receive and sign for it, by tendering it to him.
Sec. 7. Substituted service. If, for justifiable causes, the
defendant cannot be served within a reasonable time as
provided in the preceding section, service may be effected
(a) by leaving copies of the summons at the defendant's
residence with some person of suitable age and discretion
then residing therein, or (b) by leaving the copies at
defendant's office or regular place of business with some
competent person in charge thereof.
Sec. 8. Service upon entity without juridical personality.
When persons associated in an entity without juridical
personality are sued under the name by which they are
generally or commonly known, service may be effected
upon all the defendants by serving upon any one of them,
or upon the person in charge of the office or place of
business maintained in such name. But such service shall
not bind individually any person whose connection with the
entity has, upon due notice, been severed before the
action was brought.
Sec. 9. Service upon prisoners. When the defendant is a
prisoner confined in a jail or institution, service shall be
effected upon him by the officer having the management of
such jail or institution who is deemed deputized as a
special sheriff for said purpose.
Sec. 10. Service upon minors and incompetents. When
the defendant is a minor, insane or otherwise an
incompetent, service shall be made upon him personally
and on his legal guardian if he has one, or if none, upon
his guardian ad litem whose appointment shall be applied
for by the plaintiff. In the case of a minor, service may also
be made on his father or mother.
Sec. 11. Service upon domestic private juridical entity.
When the defendant is a corporation, partnership or
association organized under the laws of the Philippines
with a juridical personality, service may be made on the
president, managing partner, general manager, corporate
secretary, treasurer, or in-house counsel.
Sec. 12. Service upon foreign private juridical entity. When
the defendant is a foreign private juridical entity which has
transacted business in the Philippines, service may be

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made on its resident agent designated in accordance with
law for that purpose, or, if there be no such agent, on the
government official designated by law to that effect, or on
any of its officers or agents within the Philippines.
Sec. 13. Service upon public corporations. When the
defendant is the Republic of the Philippines, service may
be effected on the Solicitor General; in case of a province,
city or municipality, or like public corporations, service may
be effected on its executive head, or on such other officer
or officers as the law or the court may direct.
Sec. 14. Service upon defendant whose identity or
whereabouts are unknown. In any action where the
defendant is designated as an unknown owner, or the like,
or whenever his whereabouts are unknown and cannot be
ascertained by diligent inquiry, service may, by leave of
court, be effected upon him by publication in a newspaper
of general circulation and in such places and for such time
as the court may order.
Sec. 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.
Sec. 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.
Sec. 17. Leave of court. Any application to the court under
this Rule for leave to effect service in any manner for
which leave of court is necessary shall be made by motion
in writing, supported by affidavit of the plaintiff or some
person on his behalf, setting forth the grounds for the
application.
Sec. 18. Proof of service. The proof of service of a
summons shall be made in writing by the server and shall
set forth the manner, place, and date of service; shall
specify any papers which have been served with the
process and the name of the person who received the

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same; and shall be sworn to when made by a person other
than a sheriff or his deputy.
Sec. 19. Proof of service by publication. If the service has
been made by publication, service may be proved by the
affidavit of the printer, his foreman or principal clerk, or of
the editor, business or advertising manager, to which
affidavit a copy of the publication shall be attached, and by
an affidavit showing the deposit of a copy of the summons
and order for publication in the post office, postage
prepaid, directed to the defendant by registered mail to his
last known address.
Sec. 20. Voluntary appearance. The defendant's voluntary
appearance in the action shall be equivalent to service of
summons. The inclusion in a motion to dismiss of other
grounds aside from lack of jurisdiction over the person of
the defendant shall not be deemed a voluntary
appearance.
RULE 39 EXECUTION, SATISFACTION AND EFFECT
OF JUDGMENTS
Sec. 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.
RULE
131

BURDEN
OF
PROOF
AND
PRESUMPTIONS
Sec. 3. Disputable presumptions. The following
presumptions are satisfactory if uncontradicted, but may
be contradicted and overcome by other evidence: xxx
(n) That a court, or judge acting as such, whether in the
Philippines or elsewhere, was acting in the lawful
exercise of jurisdiction; xxx
RULE 132 PRESENTATION OF EVIDENCE
A. EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES
Sec. 25. What attestation of copy must state. Whenever
a copy of a document or record is attested for the purpose
of evidence, the attestation must state, in substance, that
the copy is a correct copy of the original, or a specific part
thereof, as the case may be. The attestation must be
under the official seal of the attesting officer, if there be
any, or if he be the clerk of a court having a seal, under the
seal of such court. (26a)

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