CONFLICT OF LAWS Ellis vs. Republic, 7 SCRA 962 , April 30, 1963

Ellis vs. Republic, 7 SCRA 962 , April 30, 1963
Case Title : IN RE: ADOPTION OF CHILD BAPTIZED UNDER THE NAME OF ROSE, MARVIN G. ELLIS and GLORIA C. ELLIS, petitioners-appellees, vs. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, oppositor-appellant.
Case Nature : APPEAL from a decision of the Court of First Instance of Manila.
Syllabi Class : Adoption
View Decision
No. L-16922. April 30, 1963.
IN RE: ADOPTION OF CHILD BAPTIZED UNDER THE NAME OF ROSE, MARVIN G. ELLIS and GLORIA C. ELLIS, petitioners-appellees, vs. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, oppositor-appellant.
Adoption; Non-resident aliens cannot adopt in the Philip­pines.—Petitioners, who are husband and wife, had been in the Philippines for three (3) years at the time of the hearing of the petition for adoption, the husband being assigned as staff ser­geant in the U.S, Air Force Base in Angeles, Pampanga. Not being permanent residents, they cannot adopt in the Philippines, pursuant to Article 335 of the Civil Code of the Philippines, which provides that non-residents cannot adopt.
Same; Same; Nature of adoption proceedings.—Adoption proceedings being in rem, no court may entertain them unless it has jurisdiction, not only over the subject matter of the case and over the parties, but, also, over the res, which is the personal status not only of the person to be adopted, but also of the adopting parents. The Civil Code of the Philippines (Art. 15) adheres to the theory that jurisdiction over the states of a natural person is determined by his nationality. Pursuant there­to, the Philippine courts have no jurisdiction over the status of an alien petitioner in adoption proceedings. The political law of the Philippines is patterned after the Anglo-American legal system, which adopts the view that personal status, in general, is determined by and/or subject to the jurisdiction of the do­micillary law (Restatement of the Law of Conflict of Laws, p. 86; The Conflict of Laws by Beale, Vol. I, p. 305, Vol. II, pp. 713-714). Hence, under either the nationality theory or the domicillary theory, the Philippine courts cannot assume and ex­ercise jurisdiction over the status of petitioners, who are not domiciled in the Philippines, and, hence non-resident aliens.
APPEAL from a decision of the Court of First Instance of Manila.
The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court.
Leonardo F. Lansangan for petitioners-appellees.
Office of the Solicitor General for oppositor-appellant.
CONCEPCION, J.:
Appeal taken by the Government from a decision of the
963
VOL. 7, APRIL 30, 1963
963
Ellis vs. Republic
Court of First Instance of Pampanga granting the petition of Marvin G. Ellis and Gloria C. Ellis for the adoption of a Filipino baby girl named Rose.
Petitioner Marvin G. Ellis, a native of San Fransisco, California, is 28 years of age. On September 3, 1949, he married Gloria G. Ellis in Banger, Maine, United States. Both are citizens of the United States. Baby Rose was born on September 26, 1959, at the Caloocan Maternity Hospital. Four or five days later, the mother of Rose left her with the Heart of Mary Villa — an institution for unwed mothers and their babies — stating that she (the mother) could not take of Rose without bringing disgrace upon her (the mother’s family.)
Being without issue, on November 22, 1959, Mr. and Mrs. Ellis filed a petition with the Court of First Instance of Pampanga for the adoption of the aforementioned baby. At the time of the hearing of the petition on January 14,1960, petitioner Marvin G. Ellis and his wife had been in the Philippines for three (3) years, he being assigned thereto as staff sergeant in the United States Air Force Base, in Angeles, Pampanga where both lived at that time. They had been in the Philippines before, or, to exact, in 1953.
The only issue in this appeal is whether, not being permanent residents in the Philippines, petitioners are qualified to adopt Baby Rose. Article 335 of the Civil Code of the Philippines, provides that:
“The following cannot adopt:
x x x x x x x x x
“(4) Non-resident aliens;”
x x x x x x x x x
This legal provisions is too clear to require interpretation. No matter how much we sympathize with the plight of Baby Rose and with the good intentions of petitioners herein, the law leaves us no choice but to apply its explicit terms, which unqualified deny to petitioners the power to adopt anybody in the Philippines.
In this connection, it should be noted that this is a proceedings in rem, which no court may entertain unless it has jurisdiction, not only over the subject matter
of the case and over the parties, but also over the res, which is the personal status of Baby Rose as well as that of petitioners herein. Our Civil Code (Art. 15) adheres to the theory that jurisdiction over the status of a natural person is determined by the latters’ nationality. Pursuant to this theory, we have jurisdiction over the status of Baby Rose, she being a citizen of the Philippines, but not over the status of the petitioners, who are foreigners. Under our political law, which is patterned after the Anglo-American legal system, we have, likewise, adopted the latter’s view to the effect that personal status, in general, is determined by and/or subject to the jurisdiction of the domiciliary law (Restatement of the Law of Conflict of Laws, p. 86; The Conflict of Laws by Beale, Vol. I, p. 305, Vol. II, pp. 713-714). This, perhaps, is the reason why our Civil Code does not permit adoption by non-resident aliens, and we have consistently refused to recognize the validity of foreign decrees of divorce — regardless of the grounds upon which the same are based — involving citizens of the Philippines who are not bona fide residents of the forum, even when our laws authorized absolute divorce in the Philippines (Ramirez v. Gmur, 42 Phil. 855; Gonayeb v. Hashim, 30 Phil. 22; Cousine Hix v. Fleumer, 55 Phil. 851; Barretto Gonzales v. Gonzales, 58 Phil. 67; Recto v. Harden, L-6897, Nov. 29, 1955)”.
Inasmuch as petitioners herein are not domiciled in the Philippines — and, hence, non-resident aliens – we cannot assume and exercise jurisdiction over the status, under either the nationality theory or the domiciliary theory. In any event, whether the above — quoted provision of said Art. 335 is predicated upon lack of jurisdiction over the res or merely affects the cause of action, we have no authority to grant the relief prayed for by petitioners herein, and it has been so held in Caraballo v. Republic, L-15080 (April 25, 1962) and Katansik v. Republic L-15472 (June 30, 1962).
WHEREFORE, the decision appealed from is hereby reversed, and another one shall be entered denying the petition in this case.
965
VOL. 7, APRIL 30, 1963
965
Ellis vs. Republic
Bengzon, C.J., Bautista Angelo, Labrador, Barrera, Paredes, Dizon, Regala and Makalintal, JJ., concur.
Padilla and Reyes, J.B.L., JJ., did not take part.
Decision reversed.
Notes.—Another reason why our law prohibits adoption by “non-resident aliens” is to prevent Filipino children from being taken away to foreign countries (Capistrano, Civil Code Annotated, et al., Vo. I, 1950 ed., p. 305).
The philosophy behind adoption statutes is to promote the welfare of the child. Accordingly, the modern trend is to encourage adoption and every reasonable intendment should be sustained to promote that objective (Santos, et al. v. Aranzanso, et al., L-23828, Feb. 28, 1966).