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Remo vs. Secretary of Foreign Affairs

1) Petitioner Maria Virginia V. Rallonza applied to renew her expired passport with her maiden name instead of her married name, as her marriage to Francisco R. Rallonza was still valid. 2) Petitioner's request was denied based on rules stating a married woman can only revert to her maiden name if the marriage is annulled, ended by divorce, or the husband has died. 3) The court ruled that while a married woman can choose to use her maiden name, the specific law governing passports only allows changing back to a maiden name if the marriage has been severed by death, divorce or annulment. As Petitioner's marriage was still valid, she could not resume use

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Caroline A. Legaspino
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624 views1 page

Remo vs. Secretary of Foreign Affairs

1) Petitioner Maria Virginia V. Rallonza applied to renew her expired passport with her maiden name instead of her married name, as her marriage to Francisco R. Rallonza was still valid. 2) Petitioner's request was denied based on rules stating a married woman can only revert to her maiden name if the marriage is annulled, ended by divorce, or the husband has died. 3) The court ruled that while a married woman can choose to use her maiden name, the specific law governing passports only allows changing back to a maiden name if the marriage has been severed by death, divorce or annulment. As Petitioner's marriage was still valid, she could not resume use

Uploaded by

Caroline A. Legaspino
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CASE: MARIA VIRGINIA V. REMO VS.

SECRETARY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS


GR No. 169202, March 05, 2010

FACTS:

Petitioner, whose marriage with Francisco R. Rallonza still subsists prior to the expiry of
the validity of her passport wherein she adopted her husband’s surname, applied for its
renewal in the DFA Office in Chicago, Illinois, USA with a request to revert to her
maiden name and surname in the replacement passport.

Petitioner’s request was denied as well as the subsequent appeals and motions for
reconsideration before the DFA Secretary, the Office of the President and the Court of
Appeals, citing the Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 8239 or the Philippine
Passport Act of 1996 which clearly defines the conditions when a woman applicant may
revert to her maiden name, that is, only in cases of annulment of marriage, divorce and
death of the husband. Petitioner’s case does not meet any of these conditions.

The Office of the President further held that in case of conflict between a general and
special law, the latter will control the former regardless of the respective dates of
passage. Since the Civil Code is a general law, it should yield to RA 8239.

ISSUE:

Whether petitioner, who originally used her husband's surname in her expired passport,
can revert to the use of her maiden name in the replacement passport, despite the
subsistence of her marriage.

RULING:

No. Settled is the rule that a married woman has an option, but not a duty, to use the
surname of the husband in any of the ways provided by Article 370 of the Civil Code.
She is therefore allowed to use not only any of the three names provided in Article 370,
but also her maiden name upon marriage. She is not prohibited from continuously using
her maiden name once she is married because when a woman marries, she does not
change her name but only her civil status.

In this case, however, the governing law shall be Sec. 5(d) of RA 8239 which
enumerates the cases when a married woman who opted to adopt her husband’s
surname in her passport, may be allowed to revert to the use of her maiden name.
These instances are: (1) death of husband, (2) divorce, (3) annulment, or (4) nullity of
marriage. Since petitioner's marriage to her husband subsists, she may not resume her
maiden name in the replacement passport. Otherwise stated, a married woman's
reversion to the use of
her maiden name must be based only on the severance of the marriage.

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