Short answer. Yes. Article 817 gives a foreigner's will executed in the Philippines the same effect as a Philippine will, provided it was made according to the law of his own country and could be proved and allowed there. He may follow his national law even while signing here.
What the law says
A will made in the Philippines by a citizen or subject of another country, which is executed in accordance with the law of the country of which he is a citizen or subject, and which might be proved and allowed by the law of his own country, shall have the same effect as if executed according to the laws of the Philippines.
Civil Code, Article 817 — An Alien's Will Made in the Philippines. Read the full provision →
What Article 817 allows
Article 817 provides that a will made in the Philippines by a citizen or subject of another country, which is executed in accordance with the law of the country of which he is a citizen or subject, and which might be proved and allowed by the law of his own country, shall have the same effect as if executed according to the laws of the Philippines. A foreigner in the Philippines therefore has a choice of form. He may make his will in the manner Philippine law prescribes, or he may follow the formalities of his own country — and if he does the latter, the will is treated here exactly as a locally made one.
The two conditions attached
The permission is not unconditional. First, the will must be executed in accordance with the law of the country of which the testator is a citizen or subject — his national law, applied to how the will is signed and witnessed. Second, it must be a will that could be proved and allowed under that same national law; a document his own country would reject cannot borrow validity here. Meet both and the will has the same effect as one made under Philippine formalities. This mirrors the freedom Article 816 gives to wills made abroad, extended to the foreigner who happens to execute his will while in the Philippines.
Still a question of form, not of shares
As with wills made abroad, this article settles the manner of execution, not who inherits. How much a foreigner may give, and the shares reserved for his heirs, are governed by his national law on succession rather than by Article 817. So a will validly executed here under a foreign country's formalities may still have its dispositions measured against that country's rules on compulsory heirs. The article buys you formal validity — that the will was properly made — and nothing about the distribution beyond that. Keep the two questions separate when reading such a will.
Proving it when the time comes
A will executed here under foreign formalities will still, in the ordinary case, have to be allowed by a court before it moves property in the Philippines. Because it relied on foreign law for its form, the estate must be ready to establish that law — a Philippine court does not take foreign requirements as known and they have to be proved. So retain the original will, a clear record of the testator's nationality, and evidence of his country's formalities and that the will satisfies them. A foreigner intending to use this route is well advised to have the will drafted with both systems in view.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- In the matter of the petition to approve the will of Luz Gaspe Lipson, G.R. No. 229010, November 23, 2020 — read the decision on LawPhil →