Manuel vs.

People (476 SCRA 461)

Re: Article 41, FC – Bigamy is committed if second marriage is contracted before absent
first spouse was judicially declared presumptively dead pursuant to Article 41, FC in relation to
Article 349, Revised Penal Code.

G.R. No. 165842

FACTS

On July 28, 1975, Eduardo Manuel married Rubylus Gaa before Msgr. Feliciano Santos in
Makati. Rubylus Gaa was charged with estafa in 1975 and thereafter imprisoned Manuel only
visited his wife after three months and never saw her again. Manuel met Tina Gandalera in
Dagupan City on January 1996. Tina was then 21 years old, a computer secretarial student
while Manuel was 39. Manuel visited Tina in Baguio City.
Eventually, despite Tina’s resistance, Eduardo succeeded in having his way with her and
proposed marriage on several occasions, assuring Tina that he was single. Manuel even brought
his parents to Baguio City to meet Tina’s parents, and was assured by them that their son was
still single. Tina agreed to marry Manuel, April 22, 1996 before Judge Antonio Reyes, the
Presiding Judge of the RTC of Baguio City. For three years, the couple was happy until Manuel
only went to their house twice or thrice a year and when Tina asks for money, Manuel would
slap her. January 2001, Eduardo left and did not return and stopped giving financial support to
Tina.

On August 2001, Tina made inquiries from the NSO in Manila and learned that Eduardo was
previously married. Eduardo testified that he met Tina in 1995 in a bar where she worked as
GRO. He said that he informed Tina that he was already married but nevertheless, she agreed to
marry him. Manuel stated that he declared he was single in his marriage with Tina because he
believed in good faith that his first marriage was invalid, that he did not know that he had to go
to the court to seek nullification of his first marriage before marrying Tina. He further claimed
that he was only forced to marry his first wife because she threatened to commit suicide unless he
did so.

ISSUE
Whether or not Eduardo Manuel is guilty of Bigamy

HELD
Yes. Article 349 provides that the penalty of prison mayor shall be imposed upon any person
who shall contract a second or subsequent marriage before the former marriage has been
dissolved, or before the absent spouse has been declared presumptively dead by means of a
judgment rendered in the proper proceedings.

For the accused to be guilty of bigamy, prosecution is burdened to prove the felony:

He/she has been legally married

He/she contracts a subsequent marriage without the former marriage having been lawfully
dissolved
It is the burden of the petitioner to prove his defense that when he married he was of the well-
grounded belief that his first wife was already dead, as he had not heard from her for more than
20 years since 1975. Eduardo Manuel failed to discharge his burden since there is no judicial
declaration of presumptive death was shown.

Article 41 of the Family Code amended the rules on presumptive death on Article 390 and 391 of
the Civil Code which states that before the spouse present may contract a subsequent marriage,
he or she must institute summary proceedings for the declaration of the presumptive death of
absentee spouse without prejudice to the effect of the reappearance of the absentee spouse.