Practice question
Both spouses were Filipino when a foreign divorce was obtained. One naturalizes only afterward and invokes Orbecido as if the later citizenship change automatically operated retroactively. No other applicable exception is established. Which is best?
- Orbecido’s reckoning point is divorce-time citizenship; later naturalization does not itself establish that requirement retroactively
- Later naturalization automatically validates every earlier divorce
- The date of citizenship never matters
- Only the recognition judge’s nationality matters
- A later passport changes all earlier facts
Legal references
- Republic v. Orbecido III, G.R. No.154380, October 5, 2005, main decision, citizenship when divorce obtained: https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2005/oct2005/gr_154380_2005.html
- EO227, Article 26 amendment: https://lawphil.net/executive/execord/eo1987/eo_227_1987.html
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