Reyes 2001 Book II Outline - Title Twelve Kiddy and Mondy

Title Twelve
CRIMES AGAINST THE CIVIL STATUS OF A PERSON

What are the crimes against the civil status of a person?

1. Simulation of births, substitution of one child for another and concealment or abandonment of a
legitimate child

2. Usurpation of civil status

3. Bigamy

4. Marriage contracted against provisions of law

5. Premature marriages

6. Performance of illegal marriage ceremony

Chapter One
SIMULATION OF BIRTHS AND USURPATION OF CIVIL STATUS

Art. 347. Simulation of births, substitution of one child for another and concealment or abandonment of a
legitimate child. — The simulation of births and the substitution of one child for another shall be punished
by prision mayor and a fine of not exceeding 1,000 pesos.

The same penalties shall be imposed upon any person who shall conceal or abandon any legitimate child
with intent to cause such child to lose its civil status.

Any physician or surgeon or public officer who, in violation of the duties of his profession or office, shall
cooperate in the execution of any of the crimes mentioned in the two next preceding paragraphs, shall
suffer the penalties therein prescribed and also the penalty of temporary special disqualification.

Acts punished under Article 347

1. Simulation of births

2. Substitution of one child for another

3. Concealing or abandoning any legitimate child with intent to cause such child to lose its civil status

The object of the crime under Article 347 is the creation of false, or the causing of the loss of, civil status. The
purpose is to cause the loss of any trace as to the filiation of the child.
• The child, whose birth the woman feigns, loses its civil status in the family of the woman who has really
given its birth and acquire, through fraud, another status to which it has no right.

Simulation of birth
• The simulation of birth takes place when the woman pretends to be pregnant when in fact she is not, and
on the day of the supposed delivery, takes the child of another as her own.

• In this case, the woman introduces a stranger in the family and defrauds legitimate heirs.

• The woman who simulates birth and the one who furnishes the child are both responsible as principals.

The simulation which is a crime is that which alters the civil status of a person.
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Reyes 2001 Book II Outline - Title Twelve Kiddy and Mondy

The facts that the child will be benefited by the simulation of its birth is not a defense.

Substituting one child for another

• May be effected by placing a live child in place of a dead one of another woman.

• Exchanges X and Y without the knowledge of their respective parents

Concealing or abandoning any legitimate child

• Three requisites must concur
1. The child must be legitimate

2. The offender conceals or abandons such child

3. The offender has the intent to cause such child to lose its civil status

• The child must be legitimate and fully developed and living being, as the child born not capable of living
has no status, nor can he transmit any rights whatsoever.

The unlawful sale of a child by its father, is not a crime under this article
• A father who sold his child to a Chinese couple for money consideration and agreed never to claim the
child again is not liable under this article.

• NOTE: No abandonment of a child in the sense it should be understood in Article 347, that is, leaving the
child at a public place where other people may find it, and causing the child to lose its civil stats.

Meaning of "abandon" as used in Article 347

• The practice of abandoning new-born infants and very young children at the door of hospitals, churches
and other religious institutions.

Concealing a legitimate child must be for the purpose of causing it to lose its civil status

When is abandonment of a minor a crime against security and when is it a crime against the civil status of person?

Article 347 Article 276

Crime committed by abandoning a child.
Offender is any person.
Purpose is to cause the child to lose its civil
status.
Child is also abandoned.
Offender must be one who has the custody of
the child.
The offender has no such purpose. The purpose
of the offender is to avoid the obligation of
rearing and caring for the child.

Problems
1. A woman who has given birth to a child, abandons the child in a certain place, to free herself of the
obligation and duty of rearing and caring for the child. Æ Abandoning a minor under Article 276.

2. Suppose the purpose of the woman in abandoning the child is to preserve the inheritance of her child by a
former marriage, what then is the crime? The purpose of the woman is to cause the child to lose its civil
status so that it may not be able to share in the inheritance, hence, the crime falls under the 2 nd paragraph
of Article 347.

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Reyes 2001 Book II Outline - Title Twelve Kiddy and Mondy
3. Suppose a child, on day after its birth was taken to, and left in, the midst of a lonely forest, and it was
found by a hunter who took it home. What crime was committed by the person who left it in the forest? It
is attempted infantcide, as the act of the offender is an attempt against its life.

A physician or surgeon or public officer, who cooperates in the execution of any of these crimes, is also liable if
he acts in violation of the duties of his profession or office.

Art. 348. Usurpation of civil status. — The penalty of prision mayor shall be imposed upon any person who
shall usurp the civil status of another, should he do so for the purpose of defrauding the offended part or
his heirs; otherwise, the penalty of prision correccional in its medium and maximum periods shall be
imposed.

Usurping the civil status of another is committed by assuming the filiation, or the parental or conjugal rights of
another

• Thus, where "A" impersonates himself to be "C," the son of another and assumes the rights of "C," the
offender commits a violation of this article.

Usurpation of profession may be punished under Article 348

• The term "civil status" includes one's public station, or the rights, duties, capacities and incapacities
which determine a person to a given class. It seems that the term "civil status" includes one's profession.

There must be intent to enjoy the rights arising from the civil status of another. Otherwise, the case will be
considered only as a violation of Article 178 for assuming or using fictitious name, or as estafa under Article 315.

The purpose of defrauding the offended party or his heirs qualifies the crime.

Chapter Two
ILLEGAL MARRIAGES

Art. 349. Bigamy. — 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.

Elements
1. That the offender has been legally married

2. That the marriage has not been legally dissolved or, in case his or her spouse is absent, the absent spouse
could not yet be presumed dead according to the Civil Code

3. That he contracts a second or subsequent marriage.

4. That the second or subsequent marriage has all the essential requisites for validity

The first marriage must be valid

Nullity of marriage, not a defense in bigamy charge

• There is a need of judicial declaration of the fact that the marriage of a person is void before that person
can marry again, otherwise, the second marriage will be void.

Void marriages

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Reyes 2001 Book II Outline - Title Twelve
1. Those contracted by any party
below 18 yrs. Of age even with the
consent of parents pr guardians
2. Those solemnized by any person not
legally authorized to perform
marriages unless such marriages
were contracted with either or both
parties believing in good faith that
the solemnizing officer had the legal
authority to do so
3. Those solemnized without a license,
except those of exceptional
character
4. Bigamous or polygamous marriages,
not falling under Article 41
5. Those contracted through mistake of
one contracting party as to the
identity of the other
6. Those subsequent marriages that are
void under Article 53
7. Those contracted by any party who,
at the time of the celebration, was
psychologically incapacitated to
comply with the essential marital
obligations of marriage
8. Those between ascendants and
descendants of any degree
Voidable marriages
1. That the party in whose behalf it is
sought to have the marriage
annulled was 18 yrs. Of age or over
but below 21 and the marriage was
solemnized without the consent of
the parents, guardian or person
having substitute parental authority
over the party, in that order, unless
after attaining the age of 21, such
party freely cohabited with the other
and both lived together as husband
and wife
2. That either party was of unsound
mind, unless such party, after
coming to reason, freely cohabited
with the other husband and wife
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Kiddy and Mondy
9. Those between brothers and sisters,
whether of full or half blood
10. Those between collateral blood
relatives, whether legitimate or
illegitimate, up to the fourth civil
degree
11. Those between stepparents and
stepchildren
12. Those between parents-in-law and
children-in-law
13. Those between adopting parent and
the adopted child
14. Those between the surviving spouse
of the adopting parent and the
adopted child
15. Those between the surviving spouse
of the adopted child and the adopter
16. Those between an adopted child and
a legitimate child of the adopter;
those between adopted children of
the same adopter
17. Those between parties where one,
with the intention to marry the
other, killed the other person's
spouse or his or her own spouse
3. That the consent of either party was
obtained by fraud, unless such party
afterwards, with full knowledge of
the facts constituting the fraud,
freely cohabited with the other as
husband and wife.
4. That the consent of either party was
obtained by force, intimidation or
undue influence, unless the same
having disappeared or ceased, such
party thereafter freely cohabited
with the other as husband and wife
5. That either party was physically
incapable of consummating the
marriage with the other, and such
incapacity continues and appears to
be incurable
Reyes 2001 Book II Outline - Title Twelve Kiddy and Mondy

6. That either party was afflicted with having a well-founded belief that
a sexually-transmissible disease the absent spouse was already dead
found to be serious, and appears to and after the latter is declared
be incurable presumptively dead in a summary
proceeding.
7. That contracted by a person whose
spouse has been absent for 4
consecutive years, said person

"Before the former marriage has been legally dissolved"

• The first marriage is, at its worst, merely voidable and not void. It is valid for all purposes
until set aside by a competent court. Even if the accused, as plaintiff in the civil case,
prevails therein and his first marriage is annulled, such pronouncement has no retroactive
effect as to exculpate said accused in the bigamy case where the two marriages have been
celebrated previous to the filing of the complaint for annulment.

• Parties to a marriage should not be permitted to judge its nullity, only competent courts
having such authority. Prior to such declaration of nullity, the validity of the first
marriage is beyond question. A party who contracts a second marriage then assume the
risk of being prosecuted for bigamy.

• The civil case for annulment of the first marriage, therefore, does not pose a prejudicial
question as to warrant the suspension of the trial and proceedings in the criminal case for
bigamy.

Causes which may produce the legal dissolution of the first marriage
1. Death of one of the contracting parties

2. Judicial declaration annulling a void marriage

3. Judicial decree annulling a voidable marriage

• NOTE: The death of the spouse during the pendency of the bigamy case does not
extinguish the crime, because when the accused married the second spouse the first
marriage was still subsisting.

Effects of divorce granted by foreign courts

• If a spouse leaves the family domicile and goes to another state for the sole purpose of
obtaining a divorce, and with no intention of remaining, his residence there is not
sufficient to confer jurisdiction on the court of that state. This is especially true where the
cause of divorce is one not recognized by the laws of the state of his own domicile.

• This rule is applicable to those domiciled in the Philippines, although they contracted the
marriage elsewhere.

• If the accused, in contracting the second marriage, acted on the honest belief that he was
lawfully divorced from his first wife, he is liable for bigamy through reckless
imprudence.

• NOTE: The legal effect of divorce is a matter of law and everyone is presumed to know
the law.

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Reyes 2001 Book II Outline - Title Twelve Kiddy and Mondy

Effects of divorce obtained abroad by alien spouse

• When 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 likewise have the capacity to remarry under
Philippine law.

• Thus, a Filipino who marries a foreigner who subsequently divorced him or her cannot be
prosecuted for bigamy if he or she enters into a second marriage.

Divorce by a Moro datu according to their customs and usage, not recognized
• A divorce cannot be had except in that court which the State has conferred jurisdiction
and then only for those causes and with those formalities, which the State has by statute
prescribed.

Defense has the burden of proof of dissolution of marriage

"Before the absent spouse has been declared presumptively dead"

• Under Article 41 of the Family Code, a summary proceeding for the declaration of
presumptive death of the absent spouse is required before the surviving spouse can
remarry.

One who contracted a subsequent marriage before the declaration of presumptive death of the
absent spouse is guilty of bigamy

The second marriage must have all the essential requisites for validity

Validity of second marriage is a prejudicial question to liability for bigamy

• In order that petitioner may be held guilty of the crime of bigamy, the marriage which he
contracted for the second time with Elizabeth Caesar must first be declared valid. But its
validity had been questioned in the civil action. This civil action must be decided before
the prosecution for bigamy can proceed. (Merced v. Hon. Diez, et. al.)

Judgment of annulment precludes verdict of guilt in charge of bigamy

• Petitioner was charged with bigamy, but she filed an action to annul her second marriage
on the ground of duress. After a finding that there was no collusion, the second marriage
was annulled by a judgment that became final. The TC denied her motion to dismiss the
bigamy case, on the ground that the parties and the issues in the 2 cases are not the same.
On certiorari and prohibition, the fiscal contended that the annulment decision should
only be a defense at the trial.

• Held: The judgment of annulment is determinative of petitioner's innocence and

precludes a verdict that she committed bigamy. To try the criminal case in the face of
such judgment would be unwarranted. Even if the judgment is erroneous, it is not a void
judgment.

The second spouse is not necessarily liable for bigamy

• Article 349 of the RPC will disclose that the crime of bigamy can be committed by one
person who contracts a subsequent marriage while the former marriage is valid and
subsisting.

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Reyes 2001 Book II Outline - Title Twelve Kiddy and Mondy

• Whether or not the second spouse should be included in the information is a question of
fact that was determined by the fiscal who conducted the preliminary investigation.

The second husband or wife who knew of first marriage is an accomplice

• A person, whether man or woman, who knowingly consents or agrees to be married to
another already bound in lawful wedlock is guilty as an accomplice in the crime of
bigamy.

The witness who falsely vouched for the capacity of either of the contracting parties is also an
accomplice. But if the witness merely attested to the marriage ceremony and did not vouch nor
assert anything as to the personal condition of the contracting parties, he is not liable.

Bigamy is not a private crime.

• In the crime of bigamy, it is immaterial whether it is the first of the second wife who
initiates the action, for it is a public offense which can be denounced not only by the
persons affected thereby but even by a civic spirited citizen who may come to know of
the same.

A person convicted of bigamy may still be prosecuted for concubinage

• They are two distinct offenses in law and in fact, as well as the mode of their prosecution.
The first is an offense against civil status which may be prosecuted at the instance of the
State; the second, an offense against chastity and may be prosecuted only at the instance
of the offended party.

• The celebration of the second marriage, with the first still existing, characterizes the
crime of bigamy; on the other hand, the mere cohabitation by the husband with a woman
who is not his wife characterizes the crime of concubinage.

Art. 350. Marriage contracted against provisions of laws. — The penalty of prision
correccional in its medium and maximum periods shall be imposed upon any person who,
without being included in the provisions of the next proceeding article, shall have not been
complied with or that the marriage is in disregard of a legal impediment.

If either of the contracting parties shall obtain the consent of the other by means of violence,
intimidation or fraud, he shall be punished by the maximum period of the penalty provided
in the next preceding paragraph.

Elements
1. That the offender contracted marriage

2. That he knew at the time that -

a. The requirements of the law was not complied with; OR

b. The marriage was in disregard of a legal impediment.

Circumstance qualifying the offense

• If either party obtains the consent of the other by means of violence, intimidation or
fraud.

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Reyes 2001 Book II Outline - Title Twelve Kiddy and Mondy

"Without being included in the provisions of the next preceding article"

• Under this article, the offender must not be guilty of bigamy.
Requirements of the law for valid marriage
1. Legal capacity of the contracting parties who must be a male and a female

2. consent freely given in the presence of the solemnizing officer

3. authority of the solemnizing officer

4. a valid marriage license, except in marriages of exceptional character; and

5. a marriage ceremony which takes place with the appearance of the contracting parties
before the solemnizing officer and their personal declaration that they take each other as
husband and wife in the presence pf not less than 2 witnesses of legal age.

Legal impediment
• Uncles and nieces cannot marry because their relationship is a legal impediment.

• The undissolved first marriage is a legal impediment to a second marriage.

Marriage contracted by minors who had legal capacity is valid

• Minors contracted marriage without the consent of their parents. But they had legal
capacity, being above 18.

• Held: The marriage is valid without prejudice to their criminal prosecution.

Conviction of a violation of Article 350 involves moral turpitude

Art. 351. Premature marriages. — Any widow who shall marry within three hundred and
one day from the date of the death of her husband, or before having delivered if she shall
have been pregnant at the time of his death, shall be punished by arresto mayor and a fine
not exceeding 500 pesos.

The same penalties shall be imposed upon any woman whose marriage shall have been
annulled or dissolved, if she shall marry before her delivery or before the expiration of the
period of three hundred and one day after the legal separation.

Persons liable for presumptive marriages

1. A widow who married within 301 days from the date of the death of her husband, or
before having delivered if she is pregnant at the time of his death

2. A woman who, her marriage having been annulled or dissolved, married before her
delivery, or before the expiration of the period of 301 days after the date of the legal
separation.

Reasons for fixing 301 days

• If the ordinary duration of the pregnancy of the woman is nine months and some days, a
tardy birth is not an impossibility.

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Reyes 2001 Book II Outline - Title Twelve Kiddy and Mondy

• The law admits the possibility that a woman may be in pregnancy for more than nine
months.

Reason for requirement

• To prevent confusion in connection with filiation and paternity, inasmuch as the widow
might have conceived and become pregnant by her late husband.

Purpose of the law in punishing premature marriages

• To prevent doubtful paternity.
The period of 301 days may be disregarded if the first husband was impotent or sterile

The period of 301 days is important only for cases where the woman is not, or does not know yet
that she is, pregnant at the time she becomes a widow.

Art. 352. Performance of illegal marriage ceremony. — Priests or ministers of any religious
denomination or sect, or civil authorities who shall perform or authorize any illegal
marriage ceremony shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the Marriage
Law.

The offender under Article 352 must be authorized to solemnize marriages

The offender is punished under the Marriage Law

• The penalty is imprisonment for not less than one month nor more than 2 years, or a fine
not less than P200 nor more than P2,000.

A clergyman who performed a marriage ceremony, not knowing that one of the contracting
parties is a minor, is not liable.

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Crimes Against the Civil Status of Persons
Bigamy (1994)
Issa and Bobby, who were first cousins, were married in 1975. In 1993, Bobby was told
that his marriage to Issa was incestous under the law then in force and therefore void ab
initio. He married Caring.
Charged with bigamy, Bobby raised the defense that his first marriage is void ab initio
and therefore, there is no previous marriage to speak of. Will you sustain Bobby's
defense?
SUGGESTED ANSWER:
No. I will not sustain Bobby's defense, Bobby remarried in 1993, or after the Family
Code took effect on August 3, 1988, and therefore his capacity to marry in 1993 shall be
governed by said Code. In Art. 40 of the Family Code, it is mandated that the absolute
nullity of a previous marriage maybe invoked for purposes of remarriage on the basis
solely of a final judgment declaring such previous marriage void. In short, there is a need
of a judicial declaration of such nullity before Bobby may validly remarry (Dorothy Terre
vs. Jordan Terre, 211 SCRA 6).
Bigamy (1996)
Joselito married Ramona in July, 1995, only to learn later on that Ramona was previously
married to David, from whom Ramona had been separated for more than ten years.
Believing that his marriage to Ramona was an absolute nullity, Joselito contracted a
subsequent marriage with Anabelle. Can Joselito be prosecuted for bigamy? Explain.
SUGGESTED ANSWER:
Yes, Joselito can be prosecuted for bigamy for his subsequent marriage with Anabelle
even though his marriage with Ramona was an absolute nullity.
Despite the nullity of the first marriage, Joselito should have filed a case of dissolution of
such marriage under Art. 40, Family Code, before contracting a second marriage with
Anabelle.
Bigamy (2004)
CBP is legally married to OEM. Without obtaining a marriage license, CBP contracted a
second marriage to RST. Is CBP liable for bigamy? Reason briefly. (5%)
SUGGESTED ANSWER:
Whether CBP could be held liable for bigamy or not, depends on whether the second
marriage is invalid or valid even without a marriage license. Although as a general rule,
marriages solemnized without license are null and void ob initio, there are marriages
exempted from license requirement under Chapter 2, Title 1 of the Family Code, such as
in Article 27 which is a marriage in articulo mortis. If the second marriage was valid even
without a marriage license, then CBP would be liable for bigamy.
Otherwise, CBP is not liable for bigamy but for Illegal Marriage in Art. 350 for the
Revised Penal Code, specifically designated as "Marriage contracted against provisions
of laws."
Bigamy; Prescriptive Period (1995)
Joe and Marcy were married in Batanes in 1955. After two years, Joe left Marcy and
settled in Mindanao where he later met and married Linda on 12 June 1960. The second
marriage was registered in the civil registry of Davao City three days after its celebration.
On 10 October 1975 Marcy who remained in Batanes discovered the marriage of Joe to
Linda. On 1 March 1976 Marcy filed a complaint for bigamy against Joe.
The crime of bigamy prescribed in fifteen years computed from the day the crime is
discovered by the offended party, the authorities or their agents. Joe raised the defense of
prescription of the crime, more than fifteen years having elapsed from the celebration of
the bigamous marriage up to the filing of Marcy's complaint. He contended that the
registration of his second marriage in the civil registry of Davao City was constructive
notice to the whole world of the celebration thereof thus binding upon Marcy. Has the
crime of bigamy charged against Joe already prescribed? Discuss fully,
SUGGESTED ANSWER:
No. The prescriptive period for the crime of bigamy is computed from the time the crime
was discovered by the offended party, the authorities or their agents. The principle of
constructive notice which ordinarily applies to land or property disputes should not be
applied to the crime of bigamy, as marriage is not property. Thus when Marcy filed a
complaint for bigamy on 7 March 1976, it was well within the reglamentary period as it
was barely a few months from the time of discovery on 10 October 1975. (Sermonia vs.
CA, 233 SCRA 155)
Simulation of Birth & Child Trafficking (2002)
A childless couple, A and B, wanted to have a child they could call their own. C, an
unwed mother, sold her newborn baby to them. Thereafter, A and B caused their names
to be stated in the birth certificate of the child as his parents. This was done in connivance
with the doctor who assisted in the delivery of C. What are the criminal liabilities, if any,
of the couple A and B, C and the doctor?
SUGGESTED ANSWER:
The couple A and B, and the doctor shall be liable for the crime of simulation of birth,
penalized under Article 347 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended. The act of making it
appear in the birth certificate of a child that the persons named therein are the parents of
the child when they are not really the biological parents of said child constitutes the crime
of simulation of birth.
C, the unwed mother is criminally liable for "child trafficking", a violation of Article IV,
Sec. 7 of Rep. Act No. 7610. The law punishes inter alia the act of buying and selling of a
child.
ALTERNATIVE ANSWER:
The couple A and B, the unwed mother C, and the doctor being all involved in the
simulation of birth of the newborn child, violate Rep. Act No. 7610. Their acts constitute
child trafficking which are penalized under Article IV of said law.