CASE DIGEST ON REPUBLIC VS NOLASCO

FACTS:

Respondent Gregorio Nolasco, a seaman by employment, first met Janet Monica Parker in a
bar in England. From that chance meeting onwards, Janet lived with respondent Nolasco on his ship
for six months until they arrived to respondent’s hometown of San Jose, Antique on November 19,
1980 after his contract as a seaman expired. Respondent married Janet in San Jose, Antique, in
Catholic rites on January 15, 1982.

After the marriage celebration, he acquired another employment contract as a seaman and left
his wife with his parents in San Jose, Antique. Respondent received a letter from his mother
informing him that Janet had given birth to his son sometime in January 1983. Upon further reading
the letter, it also informed him that Janet had left Antique. Respondent then asked permission to
leave his ship to return home, arriving in Antique in November 1983.

Respondent claimed that he did everything that he could to look for Janet himself whenever
his ship docked in England. He also stated that all the letters he had sent to his missing spouse at the
address of the bar where he and Janet first met, were all returned to him. Even by inquiring through
their friends proved fruitless since they had no news on the whereabouts of Janet. He does not know
anything about Janet’s family background since she refused to give him any details when he asked
her even when they were married. Furthermore, Janet’s disappearance went unreported to the
Philippine government authorities.

Because of such incidences, respondent filed before the RTC a petition for the declaration of
presumptive death of his wife Janet Monica Parker, invoking Article 41 of the Family code. The
petition prayed that respondent’s wife be declared presumptively dead or, alternatively, that the
marriage be declared null and void. RTC granted the petition, declaring Janet as presumptively dead
without prejudice to her reappearance.

The Republic appealed to the Court of Appeals, contending that the RTC erred in declaring
Janet presumptively dead because respondent failed to show that there existed a well-founded belief
for such declaration. However, the Court of Appeals affirmed the RTC’s decision, holding that
respondent had satisfactorily established a basis to form a belief that his absent spouse had already
died.

The Republic forwarded their case for a petition to review by the Supreme Court through the
Solicitor-General.

ISSUE:

Whether or not respondent Gregorio Nolasco has a well-founded belief that his wife is already
dead.

HELD:

No. Nolasco failed to prove that he had complied with the third requirement under the Article
41 of the Family Code, the existence of a "well-founded belief" that Janet is already dead.
 Under Article 41, the time required for the presumption to arise has been shortened to 4
years; however, there is a need for judicial declaration of presumptive death to enable the spouse
present to marry. However, Article 41 imposes a stricter standard before declaring presumptive
death of one spouse. It requires a "well-founded belief" that the absentee is already dead before a
petition for declaration of presumptive death can be granted.

In the case at bar, the Court found Nolasco's alleged attempt to ascertain about Janet's
whereabouts too sketchy to form the basis of a reasonable or well-founded belief that she was
already dead.

Nolasco, after returning from his employment, instead of seeking help of local authorities or of
the British Embassy, secured another contract to London. Janet's alleged refusal to give any
information about her was too convenient an excuse to justify his failure to locate her. He did not
explain why he took him 9 months to finally reached San Jose after he asked leave from his captain.
He refused to identify his friends whom he inquired from. When the Court asked Nolasco about the
returned letters, he said he had lost them. Moreover, while he was in London, he did not even dare
to solicit help of authorities to find his wife.

The circumstances of Janet's departure and Nolasco's subsequent behavior make it very
difficult to regard the claimed belief that Janet was dead a well-founded one.