Professional Documents
Culture Documents
35 Abbas vs. Abbas
35 Abbas vs. Abbas
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* THIRD DIVISION.
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ary 9, 1993, Executive Order No. 209, or the Family Code of the
Philippines, is the applicable law. The pertinent provisions that
would apply to this particular case are Articles 3, 4 and 35(3),
which read as follows: Art. 3. The formal requisites of marriage
are: (1) Authority of the solemnizing officer; (2) A valid marriage
license except in the cases provided for in Chapter 2 of this Title;
and (3) A marriage ceremony which takes place with the
appearance of the contracting parties before the solemnizing
officer and their personal declaration that they take each other as
husband and wife in the presence of not less than two witnesses of
legal age. Art. 4. The absence of any of the essential or formal
requisites shall render the marriage void ab initio, except as
stated in Article 35(2). A defect in any of the essential requisites
shall render the marriage voidable as provided in Article 45. An
irregularity in the formal requisites shall not affect the validity of
the marriage but the party or parties responsible for the
irregularity shall be civilly, criminally and administratively
liable. Art. 35. The following marriages shall be void from the
beginning: x x x x (3) Those solemnized without a license, except
those covered by the preceding Chapter.
Remedial Law; Evidence; Disputable Presumptions;
Presumption of Regularity; Under Sec. 3(m), Rule 131 of the Rules
of Court, it is a disputable presumption that an official duty has
been regularly performed, absent contradiction or other evidence to
the contrary; The presumption of regularity of official acts may be
rebutted by affirmative evidence of irregularity or failure to
perform a duty.―Under Sec. 3(m), Rule 131 of the Rules of Court,
it is a disputable presumption that an official duty has been
regularly performed, absent contradiction or other evidence to the
contrary. We held, “The presumption of regularity of official acts
may be rebutted by affirmative evidence of irregularity or failure
to perform a duty.” No such affirmative evidence was shown that
the Municipal Civil Registrar was lax in performing her duty of
checking the records of their office, thus the presumption must
stand. In fact, proof does exist of a diligent search having been
conducted, as Marriage License No. 996967 was indeed located
and submitted to the court. The fact that the names in said
license do not correspond to those of Gloria and Syed does not
overturn the presumption that the registrar conducted a diligent
search of the records of her office.
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1 Penned by Associate Justice Celia C. Librea-Leagogo and concurred
in by Associate Justices Regalado E. Maambong and Myrna Dimaranan
Vidal.
2 Penned by Judge Tingaraan U. Guiling.
3 Rollo, p. 13.
4 Id., at p. 47.
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11 July 2003
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
This is to certify as per Registry Records of Marriage License filed
in this office, Marriage License No. 9969967 was issued in favor of
MR. ARLINDO GETALADO and MISS MYRA MABILANGAN on
January 19, 1993.
No Marriage License appear [sic] to have been issued to MR.
SYED AZHAR ABBAS and MISS GLORIA F. GOO on January 8,
1993.
This certification is being issued to Mr. Syed Azhar Abbas for
whatever legal purpose or intents it may serve.7
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5 Id.
6 Id., at p. 12.
7 Id., at p. 10.
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652
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13 Id.
14 Id.
15 Id.
16 Id., at p. 51.
17 Id.
18 Id.
19 Id.
20 Id., at p. 52.
21 Id.
22 Id., at p. 53.
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23 Id., at p. 54.
24 Id.
25 Id.
26 Id.
27 Id., at p. 55.
28 Id.
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29 Id., at p. 56.
30 Id., at p. 57.
31 Id.
32 Id., at p. 58.
33 Article 9. A Marriage License shall be issued by the Local Civil
Registrar of the city or municipality where either contracting party
habitually resides, except in marriages where no license is required in
accordance with Chapter 2 of this Title.
655
I
THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN DECLARING THE
MARRIAGE BETWEEN THE PETITIONER AND
RESPONDENT AS NULL AND VOID DUE TO THE ABSENCE
OF A MARRIAGE
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34 Rollo, pp. 58-59.
656
656 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED
Abbas vs. Abbas
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35 Id., at p. 122.
36 Id., at p. 128.
37 Id., at p. 129.
38 Id., at p. 130.
657
I
THE HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS COMMITTED
SERIOUS ERROR OF LAW IN CITING REPUBLIC VS. COURT
OF APPEALS AS THE SAME IS DIAMETRICALLY
INCONSISTENT AND CONTRARY TO THE COURT’S OWN
FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS IN THIS CASE.
II
THE HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS GRAVELY ERRED
IN REVERSING AND SETTING ASIDE, WITHOUT ANY
FACTUAL AND LEGAL BASIS, THE DECISION OF THE
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT GRANTING THE PETITION FOR
DECLARATION OF NULLITY OF MARRIAGE.42
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39 Id., at p. 131.
40 Id., at pp. 135-146.
41 Id., at pp. 173-174.
42 Id., at p. 31.
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43 G.R. No. 103047, September 2, 1994, 236 SCRA 257.
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44 Id., at p. 262.
45 Supra note 43.
661
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46 Alcantara v. Alcantara, G.R. No. 167746, August 28, 2007, 531
SCRA 446, 456.
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47 403 Phil. 861, 869; 351 SCRA 127, 133 (2001).
48 Supra note 43.
49 Supra note 47, at p. 870; p. 133.
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50 Rollo, pp. 129-130.
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51 Art. 27. In case either or both of the contracting parties are at the
point of death, the marriage may be solemnized without necessity of a
marriage license and shall remain valid even if the ailing party
subsequently survives.
Art. 28. If the residence of either party is so located that there is no
means of transportation to enable such party to appear personally before
the local civil registrar, the marriage may be solemnized without necessity
of a marriage license.
Art. 29. In the cases provided for in the two preceding articles, the
solemnizing officer shall state in an affidavit executed before the local civil
registrar or any other person legally authorized to administer oaths that
the marriage was performed in articulo mortis or that the residence of
either party, specifying the barrio or barangay, is so located that there is
no means of transportation to enable such party to appear personally
before the local civil registrar and that the officer took the necessary steps
to ascertain the ages and relationship of the contracting parties and the
absence of legal impediment to the marriage.
Art. 30. The original of the affidavit required in the last preceding
article, together with a legible copy of the marriage contract, shall be sent
by the person solemnizing the marriage to the local civil registrar of the
municipality where it was performed within the period of thirty days after
the performance of the marriage.
Art. 31. A marriage in articulo mortis between passengers or crew
members may also be solemnized by a ship captain or by an airplane pilot
not only while the ship is at sea or the plane is in flight, but also during
stopovers at ports of call.
Art. 32. A military commander of a unit, who is a commissioned
officer, shall likewise have authority to solemnize marriages in articulo
mortis between persons within the zone of military operation, whether
members of the armed forces or civilians.
Art. 33. Marriage among Muslims or among members of the ethnic
cultural communities may be performed validly without the
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necessity of marriage licenses, provided they are solemnized in
accordance with their customs, rites or practices.
Art. 34. No license shall be necessary for the marriage of a man and
a woman who have lived together as husband and wife for at least five
years and without any legal impediment to marry each other. The
contracting parties shall state the foregoing facts in an affidavit before
any person authorized by law to administer oaths. The solemnizing officer
shall also state under oath that he ascertained the qualifications of the
contracting parties and found no legal impediment to the marriage.
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