making the roundness of the abdomen more general

Aquino v. Delizo and apparent.

G.R. No. L-15853, 27 July 1960

FACTS:

The trial court dismissed the complaint for Aquino did

not show any birth certificate to show the child was
born within 180 days after the marriage between the
parties. Later on Aquino presented evidence to show
proof of the child’s birth but still his petition was
denied. The CA denied Aquino’s appeal on the theory
that it was not impossible for the parties to have sex
during their engagement so that the child could be
their own and finding it absurd for Aquino not to notice
or suspect that Delizo was pregnant when he married
her. In a motion for reconsideration filed by Aquino,
Delizo and her counsel did not file an answer thus the
motion for reconsideration was denied.

ISSUE:

Whether or not the dismissal of Aquino’s complaint is

correct.

RULING:

No. The dismissal is not correct. Under the new Civil

Code, concealment by the wife of the fact that at the
time of the marriage, she was pregnant by a man
other than her husband constitutes fraud and is
ground for annulment of marriage.

Concealment of the wife the fact that at the time of the

marriage she was pregnant by a man other than his
husband constitutes fraud and is a ground for
annulment of marriage.

Here the defendant wife was alleged to be only more

than four months pregnant at the time of her marriage
to plaintiff. At that stage, we are not prepared to say
that her pregnancy was readily apparent, especially
since she was “naturally plump” or fat as alleged by
plaintiff.

According to medical authorities, even on the 5th

month of pregnancy, the enlargement of a woman’s
abdomen is still below the umbilicus, that is to say, the
enlargement is limited to the lower part of the
abdomen so that it is hardly noticeable and may, if
noticed, be attributed only to fat formation on the
lower part of the abdomen. It is only on the 6th month
of pregnancy that the enlargement of the woman’s
abdomen reaches a height above the umbilicus,