NORBERTO A. VITANGCOL v. PEOPLE

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NORBERTO A. VITANGCOL v.

PEOPLE
Summary: Persons intending to contract a second marriage must first secure a judicial
declaration of nullity of marriage. If they proceed with the second marriage without the judicial
declaration, they are guilty of bigamy regardless of evidence of the nullity of the first marriage.

Facts: Norberto married Alice. Born into t was their union were 3 children. After some time,
Alice eventually discovered that Norberto was previously married to a certain Gina Gaerlan on
July 17, 1987, as evidence by a marriage contract registered with the National Statistics Office.
Alice subsequently filed a criminal complaint for bigamy against Norberto.

Norberto argues that the first element of bigamy is absent in this case. He presents as evidence a
certification from the office of the Civil Registrar of Imus Cavite, which states that the Office has
no record of the marriage. In addition, Norberto claims that the legal dissolution of the first
marriage is not an element of the crime of bigamy.

Issue: Whether the Certification from the office of the Civil Registrar that it has no record of the
marriage license used to petitioner Norberto A. Vitangcol and his first wife Gina proves the
nullity of petitioner’s first marriage and exculpates him from the bigamy charge.

Held: No. Petition for Certiorari is Denied.

The certification from the Office of the Civil Registrar that it has no record of the marriage
license is suspect. Assuming that is true, it does not categorically prove that there was no
marriage license. Furthermore, marriages are not dissolved through mere certification by the
Civil Registrar. For more than 7 years before his second marriage, petitioner did nothing to
have his alleged spurious first marriage declared a nullity

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