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Legal Research Midterm Activity: University of San Carlos School of Law and Governance College of Law
Legal Research Midterm Activity: University of San Carlos School of Law and Governance College of Law
Legal Research Midterm Activity: University of San Carlos School of Law and Governance College of Law
Submitted by:
Group 8
EH-309
Submitted to:
This legal opinion seeks to answer your question as to the validity of your
husband’s marriage to Rachel Zane and whether or not your husband can be
prosecuted for bigamy.
The Facts:
Per our discussion, the following are the pertinent facts of your case:
You married Adam in Cebu City, Philippines. In pursuit of greener pastures,
your husband went to New York to work in a law firm as an Associate Lawyer for 3
years. You found out that within those 3 years, your husband became romantically
involved with Rachel Zane, an American national working as a paralegal in the same
firm as your husband and that later, the two got married in Maldives and celebrated
their honeymoon in Cebu City.
Query:
1) Is your husband’s marriage to Rachel Zane valid?
2) Can your husband be prosecuted for bigamy?
Legal Opinion:
Adam’s marriage to Rachel is not valid. Irrespective of this fact, Adam cannot be
prosecuted for bigamy. The applicable laws to your case are as follows:
1
Family Code of the Philippines, Article 26, Paragraph 1.
Even assuming that the marriage of your husband with Rachel is valid in
Maldives where it was solemnized, such marriage is still not valid and is in fact void
under Article 26(1) as it is a marriage that is bigamous not falling under Article 41. 2
Article 15 of the Civil Code:
“Laws relating to family rights and duties, or to the status, condition and legal
capacity of persons are binding upon citizens of the Philippines, even though living
abroad”.3
Article 15 of the Civil Code would apply to prove that your husband’s marriage
to Rachel is bigamous as it states that the laws relating to family relations are binding
upon citizens of the Philippines even though living outside of the Philippines.
As bigamy under Philippine laws exists when a person contracts a subsequent
marriage while a previous marriage is subsisting, your husband’s subsequent marriage
to Rachel is likewise bigamous because he is governed by the Philippine laws even
though he is living abroad as he is a Filipino citizen and is married to you under our
laws.
2
Family Code of the Philippines, Article 35, Paragraph 4.
3
Civil Code of the Philippines, Article 15.
4
Revised Penal Code, Article 2.
extra-territorial application against those persons who commit the offenses specified
therein.
The bigamous marriage contracted by your husband abroad does not fall under
the exceptions to the extra-territorial application of the RPC under Article 2, hence, you
cannot have him prosecuted for bigamy.
Recommendation:
Since you cannot have your husband be prosecuted for bigamy, there are other
charges you can charge him with. However, these would demand from you a great
amount of effort to prove should you decide to continue to have him be prosecuted.
As bigamy is not tenable, you can have Adam be prosecuted for concubinage
under Article 334 of the Revised Penal Code or for psychological violence caused by his
marital infidelity.
The case of United States v. Casipong6 would be applicable to your case to charge
Adam with concubinage on the ground of cohabitation. In the foregoing case, it ruled
that:
“The unlawful union of a married man with a woman not his wife, when the
two live within a town and in the same house as lawful husband and wife, go
together through the streets of the town, frequent places where large crowds gather,
and commit acts in plain sight of the community without caution and with
effrontery, is a procedure that gives rise to criticism and general protest among the
5
Revised Penal Code, Article 334.
6
United States v. Casipong, G.R. No. 6608, 05 September, 1911.
neighbors and by its bad example offends the conscience and feelings of every
moral person; and when these conditions attend the conduct of a married persons it
is indubitable that his concubinage with another woman, even though she does not
live in his home, carries with it the circumstance of scandal required by the law to
make his action criminal."
“(a) ‘Violence against women and their children’ refers to any act or a series of
acts committed by any person against a woman who is his wife, former wife, or
against a woman with whom the person has or had a sexual or dating relationship, or
with whom he has a common child, or against her child whether legitimate or
illegitimate, within or without the family abode, which result in or is likely to result
in physical, sexual, psychological harm or suffering, or economic abuse including
threats of such acts, battery, assault, coercion, harassment or arbitrary deprivation of
liberty. It includes, but is not limited to, the following acts:
7
AN ACT DEFINING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND THEIR CHILDREN,
PROVIDING FOR PROTECTIVE MEASURES FOR VICTIMS, PRESCRIBING PENAL
TIES THEREFORE, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES. Approved on March 8, 2004.
8
761 Phil. 356 (2015).
(3) The offender causes on the woman and/or child mental or emotional
anguish; and
(4) The anguish is caused through acts of public ridicule or humiliation,
repeated verbal and emotional abuse, denial of financial support or custody of
minor children or access to the children or similar such acts or omissions.
Sincerely yours,
LEGAL COUNSEL
9-10
AAA v. BBB, G.R. No. 212448, 11 January 2018.