Some overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are sidestepping the Philippines’ absence of a divorce law by securing what has been described as a “quickie divorce” in Guam.
Atty. Ma. Carolina Legarda, a legal expert invited by the Supreme Court to speak on domestic and foreign divorce, revealed before justices how Filipinos are taking advantage of Guam’s more lenient requirements.
“I went to Guam with some friends. We discovered, Your Honor, that Guam has only a seven-day residence requirement, and you can file a divorce,” she said in an Inquirer.net report.
Legarda explained that many OFWs head to the U.S. territory to dissolve their marriages, noting that the process is straightforward as long as the Filipino spouse in the Philippines agrees to the division of property, child custody, and support. With such consent, she added, courts usually finalize the case in as little as two months.
“This is a reality, your honor, so if it is deleterious, it is because there is no divorce law,” Legarda pointed out.
While the practice is widely known among Filipinos abroad, she emphasized that it is not being disclosed to Philippine courts, raising concerns over the country’s continued lack of a legal divorce framework.
