MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has ruled that children remain legitimate even if their parents’ marriage is later declared null and void due to psychological incapacity, emphasizing the law’s intent to protect the child’s best interests.

In a decision penned by Associate Justice Jhosep Y. Lopez, the SC’s Second Division modified a Regional Trial Court (RTC) ruling that declared a child illegitimate following the nullity of her parents’ marriage.

The child was born several months before her parents married. During the marriage, the wife suffered physical, emotional, and verbal abuse from her husband, who also battled alcoholism, gambling addiction, and infidelity. The wife filed for nullity of marriage, supported by evidence of abuse and a psychological evaluation diagnosing her husband with narcissistic personality disorder. The RTC granted the petition and declared the marriage void but also ruled the child illegitimate, citing her birth before the marriage and the absence of a legitimation annotation on her birth certificate.

The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) challenged the ruling, arguing that the marriage legitimated the child regardless of the missing annotation.

The High Court upheld the nullity of the marriage but ruled in favor of the child’s legitimacy. It clarified that under the Family Code, children born before or during a marriage declared void due to psychological incapacity are still considered legitimate. The Court also stressed that the absence of a legitimation annotation on a birth certificate is merely administrative and does not alter the child’s legal status.

“The formal requirement of annotating the legitimation is a mere administrative procedure which cannot impair substantive rights,” the decision read.

The Court further noted that once a child is legitimated under the law, there is no basis to revert their status to illegitimate, warning that doing so would contradict the Family Code’s protective principles.

In a concurring opinion, Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen advocated for ending the use of the term “illegitimate” to describe children born outside of marriage. He suggested the use of “nonmarital children” instead, calling the former term discriminatory and prejudicial.