G.R. No. 249238 - Republic vs. Ruby Cuevas Ng a.k.a. Ruby Ng Sono

Respondent Ruby Cuevas Ng (Ng), a Filipino citizen, married Akihiro Sono (Sono), a Japanese national, on December 8, 2004, in Quezon City.
They had a child named Rieka Ng Sono.
The couple moved to Japan after their marriage.

The spouses’ relationship deteriorated, leading to obtaining a "divorce decree by mutual agreement" in Japan on August 31, 2007.
The divorce was documented in a Divorce Certificate issued by the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Manila authenticated the certificate and accepted notification of the divorce.
The Divorce Certificate was filed and recorded at the City Civil Registry Office of Manila.
The divorce was also recorded in the Family Registry of Japan, with an English translation attested by the Mayor of Nakano-Ku, Tokyo.

Ng filed a Petition for Judicial Recognition of Foreign Divorce and Declaration of Capacity to Remarry before the RTC on May 28, 2018.
Documentary evidence was admitted for jurisdictional requisites; Ng presented her evidence-in-chief after a declaration of general default.
RTC granted the petition on January 3, 2019, recognizing the foreign divorce pursuant to Article 26, paragraph 2 of the Family Code, declaring Ng capacitated to remarry.
The RTC directed the relevant civil registry offices to annotate Ng’s civil status as single.

The Republic of the Philippines (Republic), represented by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), moved for reconsideration on grounds that:

The divorce was by mere mutual agreement without judicial adversarial proceedings.
Ng failed to properly prove the applicable Japanese divorce law.

The RTC denied the motion for reconsideration on September 6, 2019.
The Republic elevated the case to the Supreme Court via Petition for Review on Certiorari.

Whether the RTC erred in judicially recognizing a foreign divorce decree obtained by mutual agreement without adversarial court proceedings in Japan.
Whether Ng sufficiently proved both the fact of divorce and the Japanese law on divorce as required for recognition of foreign divorce in the Philippines.