Republic v.

Orbecido III
G.R. No. 154380, October 5, 2005
Legislative intent; spirit and reason
Petitioner: Republic of the PH
Respondent: Cipriano Orbecido III
Facts: Orbecido married Lady Myros Villanueva. They had two kids. His
wife moved to US with her son and then naturalized as US citizen, several
years after they got married. Orbecido discovered in 2000 that his wife had
obtained a divorce decree and remarried an American. Orbecido filed a
petition to remarry, invoking Art. 26 (2) of FC. Court granted the petition.
Republic, through OSG, motioned for reconsideration but it was denied.
Hence petition.
Issue: W/N respondent can remarry under Art. 26 (2) of the FC?
Held: Yes. But petition is granted for failure of the respondent to evidence
naturalisation of his wife prior to obtaining the divorce decree.

Ratio: Art. 26 as amended, does not seem to govern the case at hand.
Legislative intent suggests that during the FC deliberations, the intent of Art.
26 was to avoid the absurd situation where the Filipino spouse remains
married to alien spouse who, after obtaining divorce, is no longer married to
Filipino spouse.
Van Dorn v. Romillo alien spouse obtained divorce decree abroad,
validating Filipino spouse to remarry under PH law.
The answer to the issue lies in Quita v. CA by obiter dictum that a Filipino
citizen divorced by his naturalized foreign spouse should apply to this case.
BASIC STATCON RULE: Where the interpretation of a statute according to
its exact import would result into mischievous results or contravene purpose
of the law, it should be construed according to spirit and reason. Statute may
therefore be extended to case snot within the literal meaning of its terms so
long as they come within its spirit and intent.