QUIET DESPERATION: Seeking annulment of marriage in the Philippines
It has been wisely observed that those who are unmarried seek to get married, while those who are married, seek to get out of marriage. This is so true of marriages in the Philippines where there is no divorce, and the options for dissolving a marriage is limited to declaring the marriage as a nullity for very limited grounds such as: not having the essential requisites of marriage or a spouse failing to observe the obligations of marriage due to a psychological incapacity.
Nullity of a marriage
A marriage is null from the very beginning, for example: if the parties to the marriage were not of legal age to marry (less than 18 years of age); or if the parties did not have parental consent to the marriage; or if the solemnizing officer had to authority to solemnize marriages. But even if the marriage is a nullity, a court must still declare it a nullity for the parties to the marriage to be free to remarry.
A marriage may also be declared a nullity if one of the parties suffers from a personality disorder as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, and as attested to by a psychologist or psychiatrist. The personality disorder must be severe and it must have existed as of the date of the celebration of the marriage. The personality disorder must prevent the spouse from understanding and fulfilling the essential obligations of marriage such as showing love, respect, cohabitation, and mutual support.
Strict requirements
The Philippine Constitution declared that the State has an interest in marriage, in keeping it intact. This statement of principle has been the justification for the refusal to enact divorce laws and for allowing the free distribution of condoms at community health centers.
This is also the justification why marriage annulments can only be secured by a petition filed in court, and with a full-blown adversarial trial. Even the Solicitor General, through its deputized representative, the State Prosecutor or Fiscal, has the right and obligation to examine the witnesses and present evidence to contradict any claim of nullity of a marriage.
Results of the strictness of laws and procedures
For these reasons, Family Courts all over the Philippines are overwhelmed with the number of petitions for annulment. Married couples who have already separated in fact, often for decades, remain separated from each other but are unable to remarry because their first marriage is still subsisting.
There is a third result of this strictness of requirements for annulments: desperate people fall prey to fakers of annulment decrees. Some people are hapless victims of fixers and those who falsify court documents; some people actively seek this “remedy” to regain their single status in order to escape loveless or inconvenient marriages.
How are marriage annulments faked in the Philippines?
1. An annulment from Recto Avenue
There are those who resort to Recto Avenue to obtain falsified documents which include a fake court decision granting a petition for annulment (when there was really no petition for annulment filed); a fake court order directing the Philippine Statistics Office to annotate the annulment of marriage on the original copy of the certificate of marriage; and a Certificate of No Marriage issued by the Philippine Statistics Office.
Please beware: documents from the Philippine Statistics Office are accountable forms with security features. Fake documents will be discovered. A genuine document from the Philippine Statistics Office will be computer-generated and scanned copies of original documents. These will be printed on papers that are thick and which contain a watermark with the logo of the Philippine Statistics Office, a bar code, a seal, a transaction code and the signature of the Officer in Charge.
2. An annulment provided by a lawyer
There are foreigners who want to marry Filipinos and consult a lawyer to see about having the Filipino fiancé or fiancée’s former marriage annulled. They being foreigners and unfamiliar with our strict annulment laws, shell out thousands of dollars to hire a lawyer, who then promises to file a petition for annulment, present evidence, and even promise to deliver the annulment decree. They also assure their clients that they can obtain annulments of marriage on a “no appearance” basis – meaning, they do not have to appear in court and testify. This is not possible.
The foreigner and the Filipina receive these documents from the lawyer, thinking that all the documents are legitimate, but, after they have submitted those documents, they will discover that these documents were fake (probably also obtained from Recto Avenue) or, obtained in collusion with fixers or personnel and employees from courts or from the Philippine Statistics Office.
3. An annulment decree provided by court personnel
There are also enterprising court personnel who can “arrange” for the filing of a petition for annulment of a marriage and also “arrange” for the issuance of a decision signed by a judge granting the petition for annulment; and the issuance of an order of finality of the decree of nullity also signed by the judge. When the clients take these documents to the Philippine Statistics Office, they are surprised that the Philippine Statistics Office will reject the documents as forgeries and falsified documents. Either the judge’s signature was forged or the signature of the judge was genuine but the case involved other parties or other annulment cases. In some cases, everything is forged and no petition for annulment in court was ever filed.
Philippine Statistics Office verification process
Please note that all court documents submitted to the Philippine Statistics Office will undergo a verification process before the PSO annotates the documents to your Marriage Certificate on file in their index and archive.
The verification process means that the PSO will verify the case number, that there really was such a petition for annulment filed. They will also verify the court that issued the decree and the final order; and they will verify the name and signature of the judge who purportedly issued the decree and final order. Only if the PSO is satisfied that the documents are genuine will the documents be annotated on the original Marriage Certificate. Your marriage certificate will still be there at the PSO, but there will be a note printed on it that says that the marriage has been annulled.
Criminal liability for using falsified or forged documents
If you will use the falsified or forged documents to apply for a working visa or an immigrant visa to another country, discovery of the falsified or forged documents will result in your application being denied. You may even be blacklisted and can no longer enter the country in another way, applying for a different kind of visa.
If you use the falsified or forged documents to secure another marriage certificate here in the Philippines or in another country, and the falsified or forged documents are discovered, you will not be able to remarry. Your marriage still subsists. If you succeed in getting remarried before the falsification or forgery is discovered, you will have two marriages to annul. This will further complicate your civil status.
If the falsified or forged documents refer to a marriage where children were born or where children belong, even the children’s status as legitimate, legitimated or illegitimate children may be questioned. Their right to receive support from their biological parents may be compromised.
They might not be eligible for adoption by their parent’s new spouse.
Using falsified or forged documents may earn you a criminal charge for fraud or for using falsified documents. Even if in the end, you can prove that you did not know that the documents you used were falsified or forged, you will have had a criminal case to face, and until it is dismissed in your favor and you are declared “not guilty” you will have that criminal record hanging over your head.
It will further derail all your efforts to migrate to another country, work in another country or marry another person.
Conclusion
The law is hard, but it is the law. Until Congress changes the laws on annulment, we all have to live by the strict rules on annulment of marriage. Since the May 2016 elections are just a few months away, I suggest you ask candidates in your congressional district if they support a divorce bill. And, vote for them only if they are a proponent for or a supporter of a divorce bill. Do not try to short-circuit the process or create short-cut the process to obtain documents which may be tainted with falsity – you will only open yourself to more legal complications or worse, make yourself vulnerable to criminal charges.
If you are approached by any court personnel or lawyer or any personnel from the Local Civil Registry or the Philippine Statistics Office with offers to “help” you secure certain documents, be wary. If you did not file a petition for annulment yourself, how can you obtain a decree of annulment? If you did not file a decree of annulment in a certain province or city, or you live in a different province or city from that which the annulment decree came, then you should also be wary about using it.
You can ask the assistance of the police, or better yet, ask assistance from the National Bureau of Investigation (Questioned Documents Division), or from the Philippine Statistics Office Verification Office to determine if the documents in your possession are genuine and authentic.
Go one step further: help the NBI, police or PSO to catch these falsifiers. Report erring court personnel or lawyers to the Supreme Court so that they can be disciplined or disbarred. It is in the interest of every person that official documents be authentic, genuine and reliable.
References:
Barbasher. “Help, need advice about fake annulment papers”. Divorce, Separation, Annulment Forum. World Law Direct. 31 March 2013, 3:24 p.m. Available from: http://www.worldlawdirect.com/forum/divorce-separation-annulment/70565-help-need-advice-about-fake-annulment-papers.html [Accessed 16 February 2015]
Mayol, A.V. (2011). “Two judges discover their names used in fake annulment papers. Inquirer.net Available from: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/31803/2-judges-discover-their-names-used-in-fake-annulment-papers [Accessed16 February 2016]
Santos, A.P. (2015). “Government warning: Make sure annulment documents are real”. Rappler Philippines. Available from: http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/iq/117267-government-warning-annulment-real-philippines [Accessed 16 February 2016]
Santos, A.P. (2016). “Part 6: Recto: Certified Fake.” Rappler Philippines. Available from: http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/investigative/117261-part-6-recto-fake-annulment-philippines [Accessed 16 February 2016]
Santos, A.P. and Cabreros, R. (2016). “Part 3: Cavite: Haven for paid-for annulments”. Rappler Philippines. Available from: http://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/investigative/117137-part-3-cavite-haven-paid-for-annulment-philippines [Accessed 16 February 2016]
