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!)