Legal Concerns
For those of you who may have be wondering whether recent legislation in the
Philippines makes it illegal for you to have a Filipina penpal, or to pursue
marriage with a Filipina, the answer is that your relationship is PERFECTLY
LEGAL.
There is an act, Republic Act No. 6955, passed by the Philippine Legislature in
1990, that addresses “mail order” brides, that’s often misinterpreted. This law
does not prohibit correspondence between Filipinas and non-Filipinos, nor does
it prohibit marriage between two people whose relationships are based, at least
initially, on correspondence. Instead, Act No. 6955 affects only companies or
individuals who make a profit by carrying out certain activities within the
Philippines. Those activities include, “the practice of matching Filipino women
for marriage to foreign nationals on a mail order basis and other similar
practices including the advertisement, publication, printing or distribution of
brochures, fliers and other propaganda materials in furtherance thereof...”
Specifically, you cannot “...establish or carry on a business which has for its
purpose the matching of Filipino women for marriage to foreign nationals either
on a mail order basis or personal introduction,” nor can you, “advertise,
publish, print or distribute or cause the advertisement, publication, printing
or distribution of any brochure, flier or any propaganda material calculated to
promote the prohibited acts...”
To
emphasize the business aspect of this prohibition, the Act also states that it
is illegal to, “...solicit, enlist or in any manner attract or introduce any
Filipino woman to become a member in any club or association whose objective is
to match women for marriage to foreign nationals either on a mail order basis or
through personal introduction for a fee.”
Later, “Nothing in this act shall be interpreted as a restriction on the freedom
of speech and of association for purposes not contrary to law as guaranteed by
the Constitution.”
The
italics are mine, and you can find the complete text of this Act in the Appendix
at the back of this book.
So,
unless you are operating a business within the Philippines that makes its money
by matching up Filipino women to foreigners, this Act does not concern you
directly. Presumably, you are not doing any matchmaking, you are not making a
profit, and you are not operating within the Philippines.
You
might wonder why the Philippine legislature would pass such a law in the first
place. After all, if a company turns a profit by merely introducing a willing
woman to a willing man, then bows out and leaves the two individuals to work
things out on their own, who exactly is being victimized? The woman’s looking
for a man, and the man’s looking for a woman. They are not legally bound to one
another by the introduction, and they both acted of their own volitions.
Where’s the crime? Why should the Philippine Congress try to regulate such
activity?
(End of book excerpt – if
you’d like the entire text, please consider ordering
The ASAWA Guide to Fil-West
Relationships. Thank you!)