Leouel Santos vs Court of Appeals

240 SCRA 20 (1995)

FACTS:
Leouel Santos, a member of the Army, and Julia Santos got married in 1986. The couple
lived with Julia’s parents. A year after the marriage, the couple would quarrel over a
number of things including the interference of Julia’s parents into their family affairs.
In 1988, Julia went to the United States of America to work despite Leouel’s opposition.
Seven months later, she called Leouel and promised to return home upon the expiration
of her contract in 1989, but she never went home. In 1990, Leouel got the chance to
visit the United States where he underwent a military training. During his stay, he
desperately tried to locate his wife, but all his efforts were of no avail.
Leouel filed to nullify their marriage under Article 36 of the Family Code. He asserted
that due to Julia’s failure to return home or at the very least communicate with him, for
more than five years are circumstances that clearly showed her being psychologically
incapacitated to enter into a married life. Leouel’s petition is however denied by the
Regional Trial Court and affirmed by the Court of Appeals for lack of merit.
ISSUE:
Whether or not Julia Santos is psychologically incapacitated.
HELD:
Julia Santos is not psychologically incapacitated. Psychological incapacity should refer
to no less than a mental (not physical) incapacity that causes a party to be truly
incognitive of the basic marital covenants that concomitantly must be assumed and
discharged by the parties to the marriage which, as expressed in Article 68 of the Family
Code, include their mutual obligations to live together, observe love, respect and
fidelity and render help and support. The psychological condition must exist at the time
the marriage is celebrated and must be incurable.
The Supreme Court also noted that psychological incapacity must be characterized by
(a) gravity, (b) juridical antecedence, and (c) incurability. The incapacity must be grave
or serious such that the party would be incapable of carrying out the ordinary duties
required in marriage; it must be rooted in the history of the party antedating the
marriage, although the overt manifestations may emerge only after the marriage; and it
must be incurable or, even if it were otherwise, the cure would be beyond the means of
the party involved.
The Supreme Court denied the petition because mere abandonment and failure to
communicate with her husband cannot qualify as psychological incapacity on the part
of Julia.