According to a Filipino priest whom I consulted, divorce obtained in Australia is not valid in the Philippines. This is especially true when the couple in question was married in a Catholic church in the Philippines.
Todate, there is no law in the country that allows divorce. Annulment of marriage is a very long and expensive process. An annulment means that marriage never took place.
In the case of Rico and Mary (not their real names), the couple was married in the Philippines and had two children who are now grownups.
After living in Sydney for many years, Rico decided to divorce his wife. He then became a self-proclaimed community leader and a publicly-known womaniser, jumping into bed with at least 3 different women who also happened to be married. This was of course in pursuit of his insatiable hunger for sex.
His latest conquest is a married woman from the Southern part of the Philippines who has children of her own. Not being an Australian citizen, this woman visits Australia on a temporary tourist visa. She comes and goes every now and then. Compared to his wife who was a known campus queen during her university days, the latest girlfriend of Rico cannot be classified as a “pretty woman.” Rico has been flaunting her in public places during Filipino functions.
“Under Philippine laws, two people wishing to end their marriage have limited options. They can file for legal separation, which will allow them to separate their possessions and live apart, but does not legally end a marital union and thus does not permit remarriage.
“Or they can get an annulment, which in the Philippines is a lengthy and expensive court proceeding. (An ecclesiastical annulment, granted through a Church tribunal, is a separate procedure, without which a Catholic cannot get remarried in the Church. Pope Francis has said that the Church should “streamline” this process, which can take up to a decade.) An annulment ends a marriage, but differs from divorce in important ways. The parties, for instance, must prove that the marriage was never valid to begin with.” (The Atlantic.com)