Bigamy and Its Nuances

By Atty. Eduardo T. Reyes III

In today’s world, there are people who believe in marriage and there are those who don’t.

Some who are afraid to commit to marriage may be afflicted with gamophobia. The opposite is a reckless penchant to enter into several marriages. In a sense, the latter may be worse than gamophobia as the act of contracting two or more marriages may be punishable under the law.

Bigamy is a crime that is defined and punished under Article 349 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC). It is committed by a person who contracts a subsequent marriage despite a valid subsisting marriage with another who is alive and the first marriage was not validly terminated.

The penalty for commission of such crime is prision mayor which has a duration of 6 years and 1 day to 12 years.

In the recent case of Erwin Bonbon y Tia v. People of the Philippines, G.R. No. 272844, February 24, 2025, it was concluded that bigamy may be filed by the aggrieved or innocent spouse within 15 years and the said prescriptive period shall start to run from actual discovery of the second bigamous marriage and not from the registration of the marriage.

Although there is a concept in law known as “constructive notice,” whereby certain acts or proceedings are deemed within the knowledge of persons by the mere registration in registries of certain facts or acts like birth, marriage or death, nonetheless, this doctrine does not apply to the running of prescriptive period for bigamy.

As explained in Erwin Borbon, since in bigamy, the celebration of the second marriage is always done in secrecy, the prescriptive period of 15 years for filing of the case will only begin to run from actual discovery of the second marriage and not when the said second marriage was registered in the local civil registry.

Another important case involving bigamy is the landmark case of Pulido v. People, G.R. No. 220149, July 27, 2021.

Therein, the Supreme Court emphasized that for bigamy to be committed, it is essential that the first and second marriages are both valid. Especially the first marriage, it must have all the essential elements of a valid marriage.

For instance, if X and Y are married and X contracts a subsequent marriage with Z, the second marriage between X and Z is void for being bigamous. What if, subsequently, Y dies. Will it cure the invalidity of the marriage between X and Z? The answer is, no. This is because a void marriage on account of bigamy cannot be cured by the death of the spouse of the first marriage.

Moving forward, X and Z’s marriage is already void. Yet, what if X contracts another marriage with A. What is the status of the marriage between X and A? The answer? It is also void. This is because under Article 40 of the Family Code, “The absolute nullity of a previous marriage may be invoked for purposes of remarriage on the basis solely of a final judgment declaring such previous marriage void.”

Simply stated, Art. 40 requires that for a married person to validly contract a second marriage, he/she must first secure a final judgment from a court that declares the first marriage as void. Failing in which, the second marriage shall be void even if the first marriage is void.

Thus, in the hypothetical facts, even if X and Z’s marriage is void, X’s subsequent marriage to A is also void because X failed to secure a final judgment from the court that declares that X’s marriage with Z is void.

But is X guilty of criminal bigamy as defined under Art. 349 of the RPC?

No.

As held in Pulido, for criminal bigamy to be committed, it is required that the first marriage must be perfectly valid. Here, since X’s marriage with Z is void to begin with, then when X married A, there is no bigamy.

Indeed, marriage is like sugar or salt.

Too much or too little of it is not a good thing.

(The author is the senior partner of ET Reyes III & Associates (ETRIIILaw)– a law firm based in Iloilo City. He is a litigation attorney, a law professor, MCLE lecturer, bar reviewer and a book author. Among the books he authored is Law on Property and Essentials of Land Registration [2024 Edition] which was on the bestseller’s list in online shops for several months. His website is etriiilaw.com).