Odayat v. Amante
REITERATIONFacts
The Antecedents: Complainant Pedro Odayat charged Atty. Demetrio Z. Amante, Clerk of Court, with oppression, immorality, and falsification of a public document. The complainant alleged that the respondent grabbed a portion of his land, cohabited with Beatriz Jornada while his spouse Filomena Abella was alive, and falsely represented his civil status as single in his information sheet. Procedural History: The amended letter-complaint was forwarded to the Supreme Court, which referred the matter to the Executive Judge of the Court of First Instance for investigation. The investigating judge submitted a report and recommendation. The Petition: The complainant sought disciplinary action against the respondent for alleged oppression, immorality, and falsification.
Issue(s)
Whether the charge of oppression is valid. Whether the respondent committed immorality by cohabiting with Beatriz Jornada while married to Filomena Abella. Whether the respondent committed falsification of a public document by misrepresenting his civil status.
Ruling
The respondent Demetrio Amante is exonerated from all the charges filed against him.
Ratio Decidendi
On the charge of oppression: The complainant acquiesced to the dropping of this charge, acknowledging that the issue involved a boundary dispute which is more properly a cause for a civil action. Therefore, this charge was dismissed. On the charge of immorality: The evidence presented established that the respondent's marriage to Filomena Abella was void ab initio because Filomena Abella was already married to Eliseo Portales on February 16, 1948, prior to her marriage to the respondent on October 16, 1948. The certification from the Local Civil Registrar of Pateros, Rizal, confirmed Filomena Abella's prior marriage. Under Article 80(4) of the New Civil Code, a marriage contracted by any person during the subsistence of a previous marriage is void ab initio, and no judicial decree is necessary to establish the invalidity of such void marriages. The respondent's subsequent marriage to Beatriz Jornada, while his marriage to Filomena Abella was void, did not constitute immorality in the legal sense as contemplated by the charge, given the void nature of the first marriage. On the charge of falsification of a public document: The investigator found that the complainant failed to prove this charge. The document in question, an information sheet, showed that the respondent had indicated his civil status as "Married" in the relevant item. Therefore, there was no false representation of his civil status in the document.
Main Doctrine
A marriage is void ab initio if one of the parties was previously married and the prior marriage was not judicially declared void. Such a marriage does not require a judicial decree to establish its invalidity.