GR 145226; (February, 2004) (Digest)
G.R. No. 145226 ; February 06, 2004
LUCIO MORIGO y CACHO, petitioner, vs. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, respondent.
FACTS
Petitioner Lucio Morigo married Lucia Barrete on August 30, 1990. Lucia subsequently obtained a divorce in Canada in 1992. On October 4, 1992, before the Canadian divorce took effect, Morigo contracted a second marriage with Maria Jececha Lumbago in the Philippines. He was charged with bigamy. During the pendency of the criminal case, Morigo filed a civil action to declare his first marriage null and void on the ground that no valid marriage ceremony took place. The trial court in the civil case later declared the first marriage void ab initio. However, in the bigamy case, the Regional Trial Court convicted Morigo, a decision affirmed by the Court of Appeals.
ISSUE
Whether the subsequent judicial declaration of nullity of the first marriage absolves Morigo of criminal liability for bigamy.
RULING
No. The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction. The crime of bigamy is consummated by the mere act of contracting a second marriage before the first marriage is legally dissolved. The subsequent judicial declaration of nullity of the first marriage does not retroactively exempt the accused from criminal liability. At the time Morigo contracted his second marriage, his first marriage was still considered valid and subsisting for purposes of the penal law, absent a prior judicial decree of nullity. The legal requirement under the Family Code (Article 40) that a judicial declaration of absolute nullity must precede remarriage is precisely designed to prevent situations where a person unilaterally assumes the nullity of a marriage. This rule applies even if the first marriage is later proven to be void from the beginning. The Canadian divorce was correctly disregarded as it was obtained by a non-resident alien spouse and is not recognized under Philippine law for purposes of capacitating a Filipino citizen to remarry. The defense of good faith was also rejected, as ignorance of the law does not excuse its violation. The elements of bigamy—(1) a first marriage, (2) its subsequent contracting of a second marriage, and (3) the first marriage being undissolved—were all present when Morigo married for the second time.