G.R. No.

81969 September 26, 1988

JOCELYN RULONA-AL AWADHI, petitioner,

vs.
HON. ABDULMAJID J. ASTIH, District Judge of the Fourth Sharia Judicial District Court and NABIL AL-
AWADHI, respondents.

FACTS:

The petitioner and the private respondent were married in Kuwait on August 1, 1981. The petitioner is a Filipino
nurse and a Roman Catholic. Her husband, the private respondent is a Kuwaiti student. The petitioner resides with
her children in Sta. Cruz, Calape, Bohol, while the private respondent resides at 49-7 Pamaong Street, Tagbiliran
City.

Petitioner filed an action for support and guardianship of her three (3) minor children (who are in her custody) in
the Regional Trial Court, Branch 2, in Tagbilaran City.

The defendant, her husband filed in the same court a motion to be allowed to exercise joint parental authority
over their children. However, without waiting for the action of the Tagbilaran Court, he filed on November 4, 1987
a petition for custody and guardianship of their minor children in the Fourth Sharia District Court in Marawi City

After having been summoned, the petitioner filed a motion to dismiss the petition on the grounds that the court
has no jurisdiction over the subject of the petition, nor over the parties, least of all, herself. In its order dated
November 20, 1987, the Sharia District Court denied her motion to dismiss.

Petitioner's motion for reconsideration of that order (Annex D, p. 24, Rollo) was also denied by the court on
January 12, 1988. Hence, this petition for review raising only the legal issue of jurisdiction, or lack of it, of the
respondent Sharia District Court over the parties and the subject matter of the case.

ISSUE:

W/N the court has jurisdiction over the subject matter of the petition.

HELD:

NO. Article 3 of the Muslim Code (P.D. No. 1083 expressly provides:

Art. 3. Conflict of provisions —...

(3) The provisions of this Code shall be applicable only to Muslims and nothing herein shall be
construed to operate to the prejudice of a Non-Muslim.

The application of the Muslim Code to the Christian wife will be prejudicial to her.

The Code of Muslim Personal Laws was promulgated to fulfill "the aspiration of the Filipino Muslims to have their
system of laws enforced in their communities" (Exec. Order No. 442, Dec. 23, 1974). Those communities are found
in the ten (10) Mindanao provinces and six (6) cities comprised within the five (5) Sharia judicial districts which
were created under Article 138 of the Muslim Code. As neither the petitioner nor the private respondent and their
children live in or are members of those communities, they do not come within the ambit of the Sharia courts'
jurisdiction.