Is Internet Dating Legal?

Is Internet Dating Legal ? Philippine Government Laws

Many interested people often worry about the legality of internet dating, and more so of using an introduction agency to find a prospective partner. Also they may have heard that in the Philippines it is illegal to use the services of a dating agency, I am seeking to put this matter clear to any interested readers, and hopefully at the end of this page, you will be much wiser and more confident in your attempts to seek out and find your perfect soul mate in life.

If you look around this site, you will see various styles of adverts that encourage you to join professional dating agencies, that will seek to introduce you to Philippine women for the purpose of friendship, pen-pals, courtships, and ultimately marriage. The term "Mail order bride" is often used, this particular term does in fact cause offence to the Philippine authorities so much so that the Philippine Senate has had to enact legislation to stem the steady exit of Philippine women in their ever increasing desire for better life chances in the Western World, and Japan. As with all types of dating agencies many of these are only Internet based, and provide details of interested ladies in exchange for a fee, generally the ladies can register for free, and the gentleman will no doubt have to pay a membership fee, there are generally levels of benefits received, from Bronze packages, Silver Packages to Gold Packages, the higher the membership fee the greater access one has to the services being offered, is it risky ? yes it can be, their is of course no guarantee that the ladies you are corresponding with, are going to be any more trustworthy, than someone you met in a yahoo chat room.   Of course it may be better to stick to the more established well known agencies such as Filipinaheart.com or AsianEuro.com These agencies are pretty well known, and the company that operates these sites is in Australia, so it is perfectly legal for it operate there, whilst I am not recommending or endorsing these services, I will just say that I have knowledge of them and have found them to be reasonable and a trustworthy organization.

The answer to this question is a resounding "YES" it is perfectly legitimate to make contact with a Filipina through an introduction agency, and it is perfectly legal to pursue such a relationship for the purposes of marriage, so where is the problem? and where does Republic Act 6955 come in to this situation. Republic Act 6955 is often a "Mis-Interpreted" piece of legislation, and it refers to activities which take place in the Philippines and not to activities that take place out of its own jurisdiction, let me explain further. 

The Act does not prohibit a relationship between a Philippine national and a non-Philippine national of which the relationship has been achieved through the medium of correspondence, nor does it prohibit non Filipinos contacting Filipinos for the purposes of entering into such a relationship. What the act does deal with, is the Setting up of Agencies within the jurisdiction of the Philippines for the purposes of making profits for the selection and matching of Filipinos to Non Filipinos for the purposes of marriage, this is known in the Philippines as "Mail order brides". An extract of Republic Act 6955 is as follows: "It is illegal for the practice of any body, agency, company, or group of people, to set up and run for profit, a service which seeks to advertise, publish materials, flyers, brochures, to distribute or promote the matching of Filipino nationals to foreign men for the purposes of marriage". Specifically, anyone must not set up, have any involvement in, the making of profits, relating to a business, promoting materials, publishing, distribution of brochures, of which may cause that person or body to promote the prohibited acts. So that the act is clear, the act goes further as to the business aspect of the prohibited acts, where it says It is illegal to solicit or enlist the services of Filipinos to engage in or act as candidates in a marriage bureau, to charge for such services to charge introduction fees, or any other fees for such a service. Therefore, providing that you yourself, are not operating a marriage introduction agency within the jurisdiction of the Philippine authorities, or you yourself are not making profits, or taking introduction fees for matching of Philippine women to Western men, then as far as Republic Act 6955 is concerned, it does not concern you, nor does it have any jurisdiction over your personal relationship with a Filipino. The Act does not however prohibit voluntary meeting places, such as forum's which has a free contact area for those who may wish to develop a friendship, that can lead to courtship and ultimately marriage, the Act is only concerned with business activities and the making of profits, at the expense of Filipina's being trafficked. 

Of course one may ask, why does the Congress of the Philippines seek to make such a law, and try to enforce it, considering that if a Legal entity seeks to match a man and a woman for a small fee, does not interfere in the relationship, leaves the two parties to continue on their courtship, should they choose to do so, and the two parties to the introduction are not bound to each other by the introductory fee, then what is the problem with this. The Act it seems is to protect Philippine women from being trafficked into marriages, with unsuitable men, who in many circumstances are old enough to be their Fathers, this does happen frequently, many Filipina's are attracted to better life chances through marriage to Japanese men, and end up nothing more than slaves and concubines, the Act seeks to prevent the management and profit making out of marriage introductions.

Just to clarify these points if you would like to see the full Act here it is: SECTION 1. It is the policy of the state to ensure and guarantee the enjoyment of the people of a decent standard of living. Towards this end, the State shall take measures to protect Filipino women from being exploited in utter disregard of human dignity in their pursuit of economic upliftment. Sec. 2. Pursuant thereto it is hereby declared unlawful:

1. For a person, natural or juridical, association, club or any other entity to commit, directly or indirectly, any of the following acts:
2. To 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; chan robles virtual law library
3. To 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 in the preceding sub-paragraph;
4. 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;
5. To use the postal service to promote the prohibited acts in subparagraph 1 hereof. ( For the manager or officer in charge or advertising manager of any newspaper, magazine, television or radio station, or other media, or of an advertising agency, printing company or other similar entities to knowingly allow, or consent to the acts prohibited in the preceding paragraph.
6. In case of violation of this Act by an association, club, partnership, corporation or any other entity, the incumbent officers thereof who have knowingly participated in the violation of this Act shall be held liable. chan robles virtual law library
7. Any person found guilty by the court to have violated any of the acts herein prohibited shall suffer an imprisonment of not less than six (6) years and one (1) day but not more than eight (8) years and a fine of not less than Eight thousand pesos (P8000) but not more than Twenty thousand pesos (20000): Provided, that if the offender is a foreigner, he shall immediately be deported and barred forever from entering the country after serving his sentence and payment of fine.
8. 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.
9. All laws, decrees, orders, instructions, rules and regulations, or parts thereof inconsistent with this Act are thereby repealed or modified accordingly.
10. This Act shall take effect upon its publication for two (2) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation.

The act is quite clear, that it does not prohibit the use of free speech, and for association for purposes not contrary to law as guaranteed by the constitution, this indicates of course, that you may have an association with a Filipino, as long as you did not operate a mail order agency, with the intention of profiting from such an association, therefore as you yourself are unlikely to be in this position, your courtship is perfectly legal. You can relax as you are not in violation of any Philippine Laws.

A Word of Caution, you need to be aware of under age-girls in the Philippines, very often foreign men are tricked into making a journey to the Philippines to end up in a hotel room with the girl, if she is under age, you may end up the recipient of a "Sting" operation, this is where the girl's family will turn up with local Police officers, who will attempt to extort money out of you, to prevent you from being arrested, if in doubt as to a girl's age, you should insist on seeing a birth certificate on NSO Security papers, this will establish the girls age.

The age of sexual consent in the Philippines is 12 for all, but contacts with minors (under 18) are an offence if the minor consents to the act for money, gain or any other remuneration or as the result of an influence of any adult person. You may also wish to be aware of the consequences of being caught with a Minor (Any Lady under the age of 18 years old) If sex has taken place, you may be charged with statutory rape, this can carry a death sentence, but is normally commuted to life imprisonment on appeal, if contact is with a minor, that is under 18, the offender may be arrested under "Child Prostitution laws" just be wise as to who you are going to see, if you are in any doubt that as to the legitimacy of your Filipina contact, you would be well advised to terminate any discussions or activities.

Summary: Internet dating is perfectly legitimate and the use of Introduction agencies are perfectly legal, you may wish to exercise some caution when agreeing to travel to the Philippines to meet a lady, obviously if you are in doubt as to her motives, and age, then you should take steps to find out more about her, whilst these occurrences do happen, most meetings turn out pretty well.