Pulido v. People (2021): Void First Marriage as a Bigamy Defense

In September 1983, Luisito Pulido, then 16, married his first wife, then 22, in a civil ceremony at the municipal hall of Rosario, Cavite. They had a child in 1984. In July 1995, while still living with his first wife, Luisito married his second wife. Their marriage certificate says a reverend solemnized it and describes Luisito as single.

In 2007 Luisito stopped coming home and admitted the affair. His first wife learned of the second marriage and filed a bigamy complaint against Luisito and his second wife. Before that, the second wife had already asked a court in Imus, Cavite to annul her marriage to Luisito. That court declared their marriage void for being bigamous.

Luisito said he could not be guilty, because both of his marriages were void. He said the first had no valid marriage license and the second had no real marriage ceremony. The trial court in Las Piñas rejected this, convicted Luisito and acquitted his second wife. The Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction and changed only the penalty. It held that under Article 40, Luisito should have obtained a court declaration that his first marriage was void before marrying again.

While his appeal was pending in the Supreme Court, the court in Imus declared Luisito's first marriage void from the beginning for lack of a valid marriage license. That judgment became final in 2016.

Can a person charged with bigamy defend himself by proving that his first marriage was void, even though no court had declared it void before the second marriage? And does a declaration of nullity obtained after the second marriage count as a defense?

The Supreme Court granted Luisito's petition, reversed the Court of Appeals and acquitted him.

The Court took a new position. It held that "a void ab initio marriage is a valid defense in the prosecution for bigamy even without a judicial declaration of absolute nullity." It abandoned its earlier rulings, such as Mercado v. Tan (2000), which had held that a person who remarries without first getting a court declaration commits bigamy even if the first marriage was void.

The Court gave these reasons and limits:

• What bigamy punishes. Article 349 of the Revised Penal Code punishes contracting a second marriage while a valid prior marriage still exists. A void marriage is treated as if it never existed, so it cannot supply that element.
• Article 40 is about remarriage. Article 40 did not amend Article 349. For remarriage, a final judgment is the only acceptable basis for treating a previous marriage as void. For other purposes, including a criminal case, a court may decide whether a marriage was void based on the evidence.
• Penal laws are read in favor of the accused. When a criminal law can be read two ways, courts choose the reading more lenient to the accused.
• Any time. A declaration of nullity of the first or second marriage is a defense whenever it was obtained, and the rule applies to marriages under both the Civil Code and the Family Code.
• Voidable marriages are different. If the first marriage was only voidable, an annulment decree is no defense, because "the voidable first marriage is considered valid and subsisting when the second marriage was contracted." The same applies if the second marriage is only voidable.
• Knowingly marrying against the law is still punished. People who marry knowing that the legal requirements were not met, or despite a legal impediment, may be punished under Article 350 of the Revised Penal Code.

On the facts, the civil registrar certified that its record book showed no date of issuance and no license number for the first marriage, and the license itself could not be found. This raised reasonable doubt that a valid first marriage existed. The final judgment declaring that marriage void confirmed it. Luisito's second marriage, however, did not help him: it was declared void only for being bigamous, not for lacking an essential requirement, so it could not be used as a defense.

In a criminal case for bigamy, the accused may prove that the first or second marriage was void from the beginning without a prior court declaration of nullity, and a declaration of nullity obtained at any time is a valid defense. This does not apply to voidable marriages or to a second marriage that is void only because it is bigamous, and Article 40 still requires a final judgment for remarriage.

Before Pulido, a person who remarried without a court declaration could be convicted of bigamy even if the first marriage was void. Since 2021, the accused can raise the void first marriage in the bigamy case itself.

Pulido is not permission to remarry without going to court. Article 40 still applies: a person whose first marriage was void still needs a final court judgment declaring it void before marrying again. See can I remarry after an annulment and the overview of bigamy in the Philippines.

Made-up illustration: Dante married Grace in 2001, but no marriage license was ever issued to them, and none of the cases where the law allows a wedding without a license applied. Without going to court, he married Rina in 2015, and Grace filed a bigamy complaint. Under Pulido, Dante may try to prove in the bigamy case that his first marriage was void for lack of a license (see is a marriage without a license valid). If his first marriage had been only voidable, that defense would not work. And to marry Rina validly, he would still need a final court judgment declaring his marriage to Grace void.

The decision has concurring opinions by three Justices. Read the full text on the Supreme Court E-Library (link in the sources below). Anyone facing a bigamy complaint should get legal advice: see where to find legal help.