First off, I don't like the guy (who I'll refer to as C) because he lied to me about a land transaction: C, a qualified geodetic engineer, married a fairly simple uneducated girl (S). They went to live in another province for C's work - I suspect he's being paid at least P80k a month plus bonuses and a slice of each piece of land he surveys. So all up probably P100 to P120k per month - maybe more. Subseqently, C built a new house in the province they moved to for his wife and their 3 young children. Sadly, C then found himself a girlfriend, who is violent and comes from a violent family. C then had a child with the girlfriend. Consequently, C and S split up and S returned to her hometown with her three children. Unfortunately, before S returned home, C took her to his clever lawyer friend and S signed an agreement accepting support of P17k month together with the house in the province where, for obvious reasons, she no longer wants to live. She's now realising that P17k, which doesn't always come, isn't enough. IMHO, S is now being forced in to a situation by C where she'll have to hand the children over to him because it's such a struggle for her. So, my questions: How much should S be getting ? Approximately, how much might it cost to sort out? What's S's best way to go about it, given she has very little money?
C is committing concubinage, sadly the penalties for concubinage are not as severe as the penalties for adultery. She could bring a complaint against the husband and the concubine. 17,000 is not enough whether in the province or city and definitely not enough in the city and she should be getting more every year for inflation. Sad situation but very common in the Philippines.
I would add that she has an additional problem regarding the house, annual land tax or property tax, not exactly sure what it's called but it's real and not always enforced in a timely fashion so the bill can build up after several years and suddenly ruin your finances leaving the owner in a position of distressed selling. If she has title she should look at selling soon although it might not deliver much of windfall and she should still pursue the guy for more support. Note that she is not free to find another man if she did she could face 7 years in prison so she and her kids deserve enough to live on.
That's not an easy thing for anyone to do and in the Philippines the woman generally gets custody for children under 7 years old unless there is serious neglect or abuse from the mother. Under Philippine law both parents have to provide for the children this continues till age 18 or completion of education. Her main lever is the threat of reporting concubinage but I imagine that is a very dangerous thing to do in the Philippines.
I don't think so, in fact I think that's exactly what he wants: C has now moved his parents into S's house where he's working, not far from the kabit... C's squeezing S's support so she'll hand over the kids to his mother where he'll be able to visit more easily... then he'll tell S she doesn't need any support as she can find a job etc.
