CASE DIGEST : PULIDO vs PEOPLE

[ G.R. No. 220149, July 27, 2021 ]

LUISITO G. PULIDO, PETITIONER, VS. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, RESPONDENT.

FACTS: Records show that on September 5, 1983, then 16-year old petitioner married his teacher, then 22-year old private complainant Nora S. Arcon (Arcon) in a civil ceremony at the Municipal Hall of Rosario, Cavite. The couple lived together until 2007 when Pulido stopped going home to their conjugal dwelling. When confronted by Arcon, Pulido admitted to his affair with Baleda. Arcon likewise learned that Pulido and Baleda entered into marriage on July 31, 1995 which was solemnized by Reverend Conrado P. Ramos. Their Marriage Certificate indicated Pulido's civil status as single. Hurt by the betrayal, Arcon charged10 Pulido and Baleda with Bigamy on December 4, 2007. In his defense, Pulido insisted that he could not be held criminally liable for bigamy because both his marriages were null and void. In its June 22, 2009 Decision,13 the trial court convicted petitioner of Bigamy and acquitted Baleda. Pulido appealed his conviction to the appellate court on the ground that the first element of the crime, i.e., the subsistence of a valid marriage, was absent. The CA ultimately affirmed, the June 22, 2009 Decision of the RTC but with modification as to the penalty imposed. 

ISSUE: Whether a judicial declaration of nullity of the prior marriage as provided under Article 40 of the Family Code may be invoked as a defense in Bigamy cases.

HELD: SC find that there is enough basis to abandon our earlier pronouncement and now hold that a void ab initio marriage is a valid defense in the prosecution for bigamy even without a judicial declaration of absolute nullity. Consequently, a judicial declaration of absolute nullity of either the first and second marriages obtained by the accused is considered a valid defense in bigamy. When the prior marriage was contracted prior to the effectivity of the Family Code while the subsequent marriage was contracted during the effectivity of the said law, we recognize the retroactive application of Article 40 of the Family Code but only insofar as it does not prejudice or impair vested or acquired rights. Hence, for all intents and purposes, from the date of the declaration of the first marriage as void ab initio retroactive to the date of the celebration of the first marriage, the accused was considered never married under the eyes of the law. Consequently, with the declaration of nullity of the first marriage, the first element of bigamy, that is, that the accused must have been legally married, was lacking. Thus, the accused was acquitted based on the subsequent declaration of nullity of the first marriage as there was no first marriage to speak of. After a careful consideration, this Court is constrained to abandon our earlier rulings that a judicial declaration of absolute nullity of the first, and/or second marriages cannot be raised as a defense by the accused in a criminal prosecution for bigamy. We hold that a judicial declaration of absolute nullity is not necessary to prove a void ab initio prior and subsequent marriages in a bigamy case. Consequently, a judicial declaration of absolute nullity of the first and/or second marriages presented by the accused in the prosecution for bigamy is a valid defense, irrespective of the time within which they are secured. Article 40 of the Family Code

requires a judicial declaration of absolute nullity for purposes of remarriage but not as a defense in

bigamy. Article 40 did not amend or repeal Article 349 of the RPC. In effect, the judicial declaration of absolute nullity may be invoked in other instances for purposes other than remarriage, such as in action for liquidation, partition, distribution, and separation of property, custody and support of common children and delivery of presumptive legitimes. Applying the foregoing, Pulido may validly raise the defense of a void ab initio marriage in the bigamy charge against him. In fact, he assails the validity of his marriage with Arcon on the absence of a valid marriage license as per the Certification dated December 8, 2008119 issued by the Office of the Municipal Civil Registrar (Registrar) of Rosario, Cavite. To summarize and for future guidance, the parties are not required to obtain a judicial declaration of absolute nullity of a void ab initio first and subsequent marriages in order to raise it as a defense in a bigamy case. The same rule now applies to all marriages celebrated under the Civil Code and the Family Code. Article 40 of the Family Code did not amend Article 349 of the RPC, and thus, did not deny the accused the right to collaterally attack the validity of a void ab initio marriage in the criminal prosecution for bigamy.