G.R. No. 164817, 3 July 2009

FACTS:

Petitioner filed with the RTC a verified Petition for Declaration of Nullity of Marriage with Alternative Prayer for Legal separation, with Application for Designation as Administrator Pendente Lite of the Conjugal Partnership of Gains. The petitioner alleged that she and the respondent are residents of Bugallon, Pangasinan, but the respondent is presently living in the (United States of America). They were married but are childless.

Petitioner claimed that at the time of the celebration of marriage, the respondent was psychologically incapacitated to comply with the essential marital obligations of the marriage, and such incapacity became manifest only after marriage; (1) that respondent was jobless and was not exerting effort to find a job at the time of marriage; only with the help of petitioner’s elder brother, who was a seaman, was respondent able to land a job as a seaman; (2) that while employed as a seaman, respondent did not give petitioner sufficient financial support); (3) that the respondent would quarrel with the petitioner and falsely accuse her of having an affair with another man whenever he came home and took to smoking marijuana and drinking; (4) that on July 1, 1994, while he was quarreling with the petitioner, without provocation, he inflicted physical violence upon her and attempted to kill her with a bolo; and (6) after the said incident respondent left the family home, taking along all their personal belongings, and abandoned the petitioner. Petitioner reported the incident at the police station of Bugallon, Pangasinan.

ISSUE:

Whether or not the totality of petitioner’s evidence was able to prove that respondent is psychologically incapacitated to comply with the essential obligations of marriage warranting the annulment of their marriage under Article 1: of the Family Code.

RULING:

No. The evidence presented by the petitioner in regard to the physical violence or grossly abusive conduct toward the petitioner and the respondent’s abandonment of the petitioner justifiable cause for more than one year are grounds for legal separation only and not for annulment of marriage under Article 1: of the Family Code.

* Case digest by Marife G. Guige, LLB-1, Andres Bonifacio Law School, SY 2017-2018