I, CORAZON C. AQUINO, President of the Philippines, do hereby order:

SECTION 1. Article 26 of Executive Order No. 209 is hereby amended to read as follows :

"ART. 26. All marriages solemnized outside the Philippines in accordance with the laws in force in the country where they were solemnized, and valid there as such, shall also be valid in this country, except those prohibited under Articles 35(1), (4), (5) and (6), 36, 37 and 38.

Where a marriage between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner is validly celebrated and a divorce is thereafter validly obtained abroad by the alien spouse capacitating him or her to remarry, the Filipino spouse shall have capacity to remarry under Philippine law."

SEC. 2. Article 36 of Executive Order No. 209 is hereby amended to read as follows:

"ART. 36. A marriage contracted by any party who, at the time of the celebration, was psychologically incapacitated to comply with the essential marital obligations of marriage, shall likewise be void even if such incapacity becomes manifest only after its solemnization."

SEC. 3. Article 39 of Executive Order No. 209 is hereby amended to read as follows:

"ART. 39. The action or defense for the declaration of absolute nullity of a marriage shall not prescribe. However, in the case of marriages celebrated before the effectivity of this Code and falling under Article 36, such action or defense shall prescribe in ten years after this Code shall have taken effect."

SEC. 4. This Executive Order shall take effect upon the effectivity of the Family Code of the Philippines.

DONE, in the City of Manila, this 17th day of July, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and eight-seven.


By the President:

JOKER P. ARROYO
Executive Secretary