SAMPLE LEGAL OPINION FOR THE 4TH SUNDAY OF THE BAR EXAMS

------------------------ ------------------------ -----------------------27 November 2011

Mr. Adriano Enriquez
Maria Orosa Street
Manila
Dear Mr. Enriquez:
This legal opinion seeks to answer your question as to whether or not you can now remarry under
Philippine law after discovering that your wife had been naturalized as an American citizen and had
obtained a divorce decree and then married a certain Innocent Stanley.
The Facts
Per our discussion and the documents you have shown me, the following are the pertinent facts:
On May 24, 1991, you married Myra Santos in the Philippines. Your marriage was blessed with a son
Miguel Enriquez.
In 1996, your wife left for the United States bringing along your son Miguel. A few years later, you
discovered that your wife had been naturalized as an American citizen. Sometime in 2010, you learned
from your son that your wife had obtained a divorce decree and then married a certain Innocent
Stanley.
The Applicable Law
The applicable law is Paragraph 2 of Article 26 of the Family Code. It provides that:
Where a marriage between a Filipino citizen and a foreigner is validly celebrated and a divorce is
thereafter validly obtained abroad by the alien spouse capacitating him or her to remarry, the Filipino
spouse shall have capacity to remarry under Philippine law.

REPUBIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

CITY OF ILIGAN

OFFICE OF THE CITY LEGAL OFFICER

September 7, 2009
HON. LAWRENCE LL. CRUZ
City Mayor
Iligan City
OFFICE OF THE SANGGUNIANG PANLUNGSOD
Iligan City

Dear Sirs:
Referred to this office for comment is the legality or validity of the City Ordinance No. 1826 or otherwise
known as AN ORDINANCE BANNING SMOKING INSIDE PUBLIC UTILITY PASSANGER VEHICLES OPERATING
WITHIN THE CITY OF ILIGAN.
This office is of the opinion that the subject ordinance is not contrary to existing laws or the Constitution. It
is well-settled that pursuant to the general welfare clause in Section 16 of the Local Government Code of
1991 (RA 7160), local government units are empowered to enact ordinances in the exercise of police power.
Every local government unit has the sworn obligation to enact measures that will enhance the public health,
safety and convenience, maintain peace and order, and promote the general prosperity of the inhabitants of
the local units. Thus, taking into consideration that smoking especially in public endangers not only the
health of the smoker but also that of the others, the City Government has a valid reason for banning smoking
in public utility jeepneys.
However, for its effectivity, the subject ordinance which contains penal sanctions, is required to be posted at
prominent places in the City of Iligan for a minimum period of three (3) consecutive weeks and shall also be
published in a newspaper of general circulation within the territorial jurisdiction of the City of Iligan.
For your honors guidance.

Atty. xxxxxxxxxx
City Legal Officer

Dear Magnificent Atty. Perez,

Greetings from the city that never sleeps! I was googling for help about my problem when
I came across your site and the problem about the lovely Maricar. After reading your
advice to Fazouk, I knew you would give the right advice for me. You see, my problem is
like this: a few months ago, I accepted a contractual job as a wrangler for longhorn cattle
over at the lovely mountains of Wyoming. I was assigned to guard them together with a
macho guy from the Philippines named Sonny. It was a tough job full of problems with
wolves and tough weather, and in the course of a few weeks, Sonny and I bonded and
became very close with each other. One thing led to another, and soon Sonny and I were
sharing the same sleeping bag, if you know what I mean.
Over time, Sonny and I realized that we were in love. So when New York approved its gay
marriage act on June 24, 2011, Sonny and I quit our jobs and flew to New York where we
both tied the knot. We had a short honeymoon period at the Big Apple until Sonny finally
told me his big secret.
I still remember that day like it was only yesterday. I was cooking breakfast in our small
apartment in Soho, and both Sonny and I had bad hangovers from partying the night
before. Sonny brewed me a cup of strong black coffee and asked me to sit at the
breakfast corner. Mike, he told me. Mike I cant live a lie anymore.
I put down the skillet, turned the grill off and sat down. I hurriedly gulped the coffee
despite its scalding heat because I knew I needed to be sober for his news.

Mike.. youre a good man, a great man, Sonny said, not being able to look me in the
eye. He kept fidgeting, his fingers tearing away bits and pieces from the paper napkin.
Sometimes, I think youre too good for me, and in a lot of ways, you are.
Sonny put the paper napkin down and looked at me, face to face.

Mike.

Im coming out of the closet. Im. Im.

For some reason, I couldnt keep the tears out of my eyes when Sonny plunged the knife
deep into my heart.

Mike, Im STRAIGHT!
And just like that Sonny destroyed all the happiness I have ever known. As if on cue, a
bitter country song started playing on the radio, about a cowboy riding alone on a strange
horse at midnight, headed to Omaha.

Forgive me Mike I was confused I was horny I didnt know what to do.

No, no, no
Mike, Im sorry. I was just using you to get a green card. You see, Im married in the
Philippines. I have a wife named Christine and three sons named Mark, Fruto and Michal.
I needed to give them a good life, a better life than what we have back in our country and
you were my ticket out of poverty
At that point, I stormed out of the room, overturning all our meager possessions. I dont
know how I was able to cross the street in the middle of traffic, with my tears obscuring
my vision, but I walked out of Sonny and his lying, cheating ways and went to have fun
and stay at the YMCA where I got myself clean. Where I had a good meal. Where I could
do whatever I feel.
Someone advised me that in the Philippines, contracting a second marriage while your
first marriage was existing is considered a crime of BIGAMY.
I want to get back at Sonny, your Magnificence. I want to make him hurt like I hurt. I want
to make him know all there is to know about the crying game. I want to put him into
prison where unwashed fat men with badly-drawn tattoos will ass-rape the straightness

out of him until Sonny comes back howling on his knees, asking me for forgiveness,
promising to forget about his family back in the Philippines.
Ive been told that you are evil and would not hesitate to make other lives miserable for an
insane amount of money. Well how does One Million Pesos for a criminal case sound? Call
me.
Truly yours,
Mike
Dear Mike,
First of all, allow me to extend my sympathies for the pain that your former lover inflicted on you. And
secondly, let me correct a common misconception about me. Im not the kind of lawyer who inflicts pain,
misery and suffering to other people for money.
Im the kind of lawyer who would do it happily for free.
But that being said, I gladly accept your One Million Pesos. It will go a long way for my Pajero sinking fund.
Unfortunately, I am only a lawyer and not a bishop. Nobody will give me an SUV for free.
Lets focus on the problem at hand.
You certainly gave me a very interesting problem to work on, and I would like to accept it, if only to have a
landmark Supreme Court ruling with my name on it. You see, like youve read in the Maricar problem, the
Philippines does not recognize gay marriages celebrated in our country, since it is contrary to our Family
Code, which defines marriage as:
A special contract of permanent union between a manand a woman entered into in
accordance with the law for the establishment of conjugal and family life.
And that the necessary requirements for a valid marriage is:
1) Legal capacity of the contracting parties who must be a male and a female, and;
2) Consent freely given in the presence of the solemnizing officer.
However, the difference between your situation and that of the Maricar one is that your marriage was
celebrated OUTSIDE the Philippines while Fazouk and Maricar intended to get married in the country. In this
case, Article 26 of the Family Code, which provides that:
All marriages solemnized outside the Philippines in accordance with the laws in force in
the country where they were solemnized, and valid there as such, shall also be valid in this
country, except those prohibited under Articles 35(1), (4), (5) and (6), 36, 37 and 38. X x x
Those articles mentioned in Art. 26 consider the following marriages as null and void:
(1) Those contracted by any party below eighteen years of age even with the consent of parents or
guardians;
(2)

Bigamous or polygamous marriages;

(3)

Those contracted through mistake of one contracting party as to the identity of the other;

(4) A marriage contracted by any party who, at the time of the celebration, was psychologically
incapacitated to comply with the essential marital obligations of marriage
(5)

Incestuous marriages;

What this means, Mike, is that the Philippines is obliged to recognize the validity of a gay marriage celebrated
in New York, where such marriage is considered valid and binding. Unfortunately, your marriage with Sonny
is considered null and void, not because its a gay marriage, but because its a bigamous marriage, since
Sonny was previously married here in the Philippines.
However, nonwithstanding the fact that Sonnys second marriage is void in the Philippines, he did however
contract a second marriage, which makes him liable for the crime of bigamy. The Revised Penal Code
defines bigamy as:
The penalty of prision mayor shall be imposed upon any person who shall contract a
second or subsequent marriage before the former marriage has been legally dissolved, or
before the absent spouse has been declared presumptively dead by means of a judgment
rendered in the proper proceedings.
The fact that gay marriages celebrated in the Philippines are considered void, I believe, has no bearing on the
prosecution of the second case. This is supported by the Supreme Court, in the case of Jarillo vs. People of
the Philippines (G.R. No. 164435, September 29, 2009), where it was ruled that:
For the very same reasons elucidated in the above-quoted cases, petitioners conviction of
the crime of bigamy must be affirmed. The subsequent judicial declaration of nullity of
petitioners two marriages to Alocillo cannot be considered a valid defense in the crime of
bigamy. The moment petitioner contracted a second marriage without the previous one
having been judicially declared null and void, the crime of bigamy was already
consummated because at the time of the celebration of the second marriage, petitioners
marriage to Alocillo, which had not yet been declared null and void by a court of
competent jurisdiction, was deemed valid and subsisting. Neither would a judicial
declaration of the nullity of petitioners marriage to Uy make any difference. As
held in Tenebro, [s]ince a marriage contracted during the subsistence of a valid
marriage is automatically void, the nullity of this second marriage is not per se
an argument for the avoidance of criminal liability for bigamy. x x x A plain
reading of [Article 349 of the Revised Penal Code], therefore, would indicate
that the provision penalizes the mere act of contracting a second or subsequent
marriage during the subsistence of a valid marriage. (Emboldened and
underscored for emphasis)
So, if your question is whether your marriage to Sonny is valid in the Philippines, unfortunately, the answer is
no, not because its a gay marriage, but because its a bigamous one. But if youre asking if you could put
Sonny to jail for bigamy, yes, definitely, I think you could, and for a million pesos and my name in the SCRA, I
will help you on that issue. Besides, if you put Sonny to jail, that would mean his wife would be lonely and
would need some moral support. And I also happen to own a sleeping bag.
I hope that answers your question. Thank you for your query, Mike, and I hope you will still find love, even
when you look in all the wrong places. Until then, I remain:
The Magnificent Atty. Perez
-oO0OoP.S.
This post-script is written in addendum to very good arguments raised by my classmate in law school, Atty.
Jeffrey Ravelo, who presently teaches public international law.
Atty. Ravelo asked whether or not jurisdiction over the second marriage can be obtained by Phlippine courts,
considering that it was celebrated abroad. He also raised Articles 15 and 17 of the Civil Code which provide:

Art. 15. Laws relating to family rights and duties, or to the status, condition and legal
capacity of persons are binding upon citizens of the Philippines, even though living abroad.
Art. 17. The forms and solemnities of contracts, wills, and other public instruments shall
be governed by the laws of the country in which they are executed.
When the acts referred to are executed before the diplomatic or consular officials of the
Republic of the Philippines in a foreign country, the solemnities established by Philippine
laws shall be observed in their execution.
Prohibitive laws concerning persons, their acts or property, and those which have, for their
object, public order, public policy and good customs shall not be rendered ineffective by
laws or judgments promulgated, or by determinations or conventions agreed upon in a
foreign country.
Basically, what Atty. Ravelo is saying is that theoretically, because the second marriage was celebrated
abroad, therefore, the criminal act was outside of Philippine territory, which is one of the components for the
courts power to put the case into trial. Hence, there was no criminal act of bigamy committed because the
second marriage was done outside the scope of Philippine criminal law to enforce. This is supported by
Article 2 of the Revised Penal Code which provides:
Except as provided in the treaties and laws of preferential application, the provisions of
this Code shall be enforced not only within the Philippine Archipelago, including its
atmosphere, its interior waters and maritime zone, but also outside of its jurisdiction,
against those who:
1. Should commit an offense while on a Philippine ship or airship
2. Should forge or counterfeit any coin or currency note of the Philippine Islands or
obligations and securities issued by the Government of the Philippine Islands;chan robles
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3. Should be liable for acts connected with the introduction into these islands of the
obligations and securities mentioned in the presiding number;
4. While being public officers or employees, should commit an offense in the exercise of
their functions; or
5. Should commit any of the crimes against national security and the law of nations,
defined in Title One of Book Two of this Code.
Note that the second marriage does not fall within any of the situations allowing for extraterritorial jurisdiction of Philippine criminal laws.
Hence no crime of Bigamy has been committed by Sonny.
There are sometimes when yes, I reach the limits of my magnificence, and I have to defer to the wisdom and
sound reasoning of a brilliant legal mind. So to my companyero and (Im proud to add), classmate in law
school, Atty. Ravelo, thank you very much for your input on this matter. I hope this discussion will someday
be resolved in an actual Supreme Court case.