Daily Serving of Legal Matters

Less than a year from now, the Philippines would have a new person manning the steering wheel of the government.  Either he/she would be heading us to prosperity or to damnation.  It really depends upon the people who would wisely vote. As early as today, television ads and social media are eaten largely with the people who are hoping to become the president of the dear Republic.  The names like Duterte, Roxas, Binay, Lacson, Poe and others are sprouting everywhere.  Even the Philippine pride Manny Pacquiao was introduced in one of his boxing bouts at the next president of the country. The question now that may be asked is are they qualified for the highest position of the land? Article VII of the 1987 Philippine Constitution has the answer. Section 2 of the aforementioned article states that: "No person may be elected President unless (1) he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, (2) a registered voter, (3) able to read and write, (4) at least forty (40) years of age on th

Just today, a friend of mine sent me a message on whether his friend could marry a woman who is separated from her husband for 20 years. The woman is married.  This fact remains whether she was separated from her husband for 20 years.  Separation, be it legal or not, does not severe the marriage knot. Legal separation does not entitle any spouse to get married anew.  He/She is only separated from the board and lodging from his/her spouse.  The fact of their marriage is not erased. Moreso, if the couple is only separated in fact.  No matter how long the couple is separated from each other, their marriage remains. To marry the woman in this situation, the former marriage must have been annulled or declared null and void as the case may be. If the whereabouts of the husband cannot be known despite the effort of the wife, the latter may simply file a petition for presumptive death of the former in the proper court.  Once her husband is presumptively declared as dead, she is now free to mar