MANILA – The Supreme Court (SC) has acquitted a woman of bigamy, ruling that a marriage void from the beginning (void ab initio) may be raised as a defense even without a prior judicial declaration of nullity.

In a decision penned by Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin S. Caguioa, the SC Third Division reversed the rulings of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Pampanga and the Court of Appeals (CA), which had convicted Ma. Fe Imelda Lapira of bigamy.

Lapira was charged under Article 349 of the Revised Penal Code after marrying Jimmy Fariscal while still married to Japanese national Takahiko Sato.

The prosecution presented Sato and Lapira’s marriage certificate issued by the Office of the Civil Registrar General as evidence of the first marriage.

During trial, however, Lapira argued that her marriage to Sato was void because no marriage ceremony was conducted and no marriage license was issued, both of which are required for a valid marriage.

The Local Civil Registrar also certified that there was no record of an application for a marriage license involving Lapira and Sato.

Despite this, the RTC and CA found Lapira criminally liable, ruling that she remained guilty of bigamy because her first marriage had not been judicially declared void before she contracted the second marriage.

The SC disagreed.

Citing its ruling in Pulido v. People, the Court held that an accused in a bigamy case may directly invoke the nullity of a previous marriage as a defense even without first obtaining a judicial declaration of nullity.

The Court explained that one of the essential elements of bigamy is the existence of a valid prior marriage. If the first marriage was void from the beginning, that essential element is absent.

In Lapira’s case, the certification from the Local Civil Registrar sufficiently established that no marriage license had been issued for her marriage to Sato. The certification was enough to overcome the presumption of validity arising from the marriage certificate.

The prosecution failed to present additional evidence establishing the validity of the first marriage.

The SC therefore found reasonable doubt as to an essential element of the offense and acquitted Lapira of bigamy.