Jurisdiction : Bigamy

PROBLEM : A man (Filipino citizen) married to a Filipina in the Philippines under the Philippine law went to the United States and married a citizen of the United States under the law of the state he resides. What crime he committed?

Issues:
1. is there bigamy?
2. the jurisdiction of the foreign state?

Is there bigamy?

The Revised Penal Code provides for the following :
“Art. 349. Bigamy. — The penalty of prision mayor shall be imposed upon any person who shall contract a second or subsequent marriage before the former marriage has been legally dissolved, or before the absent spouse has been declared presumptively dead by means of a judgment rendered in the proper proceedings. “

Furthermore, such person’s civil status as a married person does not change when he goes to another country, even when he files for divorce in the United States in regards to his marriage in the Philippines.

Jurisdiction of the foreign states?

Under the Revised Penal code it only recognizes a divorce obtained outside the country as valid if the marriage was contracted elsewhere not in the Philippines, regardless if both are Filipinos or one is an alien.

Therefore, since the first marriage of R took place in the Philippines the divorce obtained by R was generally not sufficient provided R goes there for the sole purpose of obtaining a divorce and no intention of remaining. Generally, his residence there is not sufficient to confer jurisdiction on the court of the foreign state.