Case Digest: Bacaltos Asilo vs. Gonzales-Betic, G.R. No. 232269, July 10, 2024
Remedial Law | Recognition of Foreign Divorce On November 1, 2002, Shela Bacaltos Asilo, a Filipino citizen, married Tommy Wayne Appling, a foreign national, in Hong Kong. They lived together in Hong Kong until they separated on August 11, 2011, and subsequently obtained a divorce decree there. On February 25, 2014, Shela filed a petition for the judicial recognition of the foreign divorce decree in the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Quezon City to allow her to revert to her maiden name. The RTC denied the petition, ruling that Shela failed to present the divorce law of Hong Kong and that Philippine law does not recognize a divorce obtained by the Filipino spouse. Shela elevated the case via a petition for certiorari to the Court of Appeals, which dismissed it on procedural grounds, leading her to appeal to the Supreme Court. The specific legal issue is whether a Philippine court can judicially recognize a foreign divorce decree if the petitioner fails to allege and prove the foreign ...