Republic of the Philippines

SUPREME COURT
Manila
THIRD DIVISION

G.R. No. 94053 March 17, 1993
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES, petitioner,
vs.
GREGORIO NOLASCO, respondent.
FACTS:

Nolasco, a seaman, first met Janet Monica Parker in a bar in England. After that, she lived with him
on his ship for 6 months. After his seaman's contract has expired, he brought her to his hometown in
San Jose, Antique. They got married in January 1982. After the marriage celebration, he got
another employment contract and left the province. In January 1983, Nolasco received a letter from
his mother that 15 days after Janet gave birth to their son, she left. He cut short his contract to find
Janet. He returned home in November 1983. He did so by securing another contract which England
is one of its port calls. He wrote several letters to the bar where he and Janet first met, but all were
returned to him. He claimed that he inquired from his friends but they too had no news about Janet.
In 1988, Nolasco filed before the RTC of Antique a petition for the declaration of presumptive death
of his wife Janet. RTC granted the petition. The Republic through the Solicitor-General, appealed to
the CA, contending that the trial court erred in declaring Janet presumptively dead because Nolasco
had failed to show that there existed a well-founded belief for such declaration. CA affirmed the trial
court's decision.

ISSUE:
Whether or not Nolasco has a well-founded belief that his wife is already dead.

RULING:
No. Nolasco failed to prove that he had complied with the third requirement under the Article 41 of
the Family Code, the existence of a "well-founded belief" that Janet is already dead.

Under Article 41, the time required for the presumption to arise has been shortened to 4 years;
however, there is a need for judicial declaration of presumptive death to enable the spouse present
to marry. However, Article 41 imposes a stricter standard before declaring presumptive death of
one spouse. It requires a "well-founded belief" that the absentee is already dead before a petition for
declaration of presumptive death can be granted.

In the case at bar, the Court found Nolasco's alleged attempt to ascertain about Janet's whereabouts
too sketchy to form the basis of a reasonable or well-founded belief that she was already dead.

Nolasco, after returning from his employment, instead of seeking help of local authorities or of the
British Embassy, secured another contract to London. Janet's alleged refusal to give any information
about her was too convenient an excuse to justify his failure to locate her. He did not explain why he
took him 9 months to finally reached San Jose after he asked leave from his captain. He refused to
identify his friends whom he inquired from. When the Court asked Nolasco about the returned
letters, he said he had lost them. Moreover, while he was in London, he did not even dare to solicit
help of authorities to find his wife.

The circumstances of Janet's departure and Nolasco's subsequent behavior make it very difficult to
regard the claimed belief that Janet was dead a well-founded one.