G.R. No.

145226             February 06, 2004

LUCIO MORIGO y CACHO, petitioner,

vs.
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, respondent.

DECISION

QUISUMBING, J.:

FACTS:

 Appellant Lucio Morigo and Lucia Barrete were married on August 30, 1990.
 The trial court found that there was no actual marriage ceremony performed between Lucio
and Lucia by a solemnizing officer. Instead, what transpired was a mere signing of the
marriage contract by the two, without the presence of a solemnizing officer.
 Lucia reported back to her work in Canada leaving appellant Lucio behind. There she obtain
a decree of divorce against petitioner.
 ,Appellant Lucio Morigo married Maria Jececha Lumbago. Thereafter, filed a complaint for
judicial declaration of nullity of marriage.
 He was charged with Bigamy. The trial court found petitioner guilty beyond reasonable doubt
of bigamy.
  
The petitioner moved for suspension of the arraignment on the ground that the civil case for
judicial nullification of his marriage with Lucia posed a prejudicial question in the bigamy
case. His motion was granted, but subsequently denied upon motion for reconsideration by
the prosecution

ISSUE: Whether or not marriage between Lucio Morigo and Lucia Barete is valid and be held
criminally liable for bigamy.

RULING: The Court held that their marriage is void ab initio and he cannot be held liable for
bigamy.

 The mere private act of signing a marriage contract bears no semblance to a valid marriage
and thus, needs no judicial declaration of nullity. Such act alone, without more, cannot be
deemed to constitute an ostensibly valid marriage for which petitioner might be held liable for
bigamy unless he first secures a judicial declaration of nullity before he contracts a
subsequent marriage.
 This simply means that there was no marriage to begin with; and that such declaration of
nullity retroacts to the date of the first marriage. In other words, for all intents and purposes,
reckoned from the date of the declaration of the first marriage as void ab initio to the date of
the celebration of the first marriage, the accused was, under the eyes of the law, never
married."
 He cannot be held liable for bigamy for the reason that one of the elements for the crime of
bigamy is that there must be a valid subsisting marriage. In the case at bar, the marriage
 between Lucio and Lucia are held void ab initio for the absence of the essential requisite of
marriage – marriage ceremony that parties must declare themselves as husband and wife
before a solemnizing officer.

Point:

 Mere private act of signing a marriage contract without the presence of a solemnizing officer
does not bear semblance on a valid marriage, thus no declaration of nullity of marriage is not
required.