Mercado vs Tan

Mercado vs. Tan

337 SCRA 122

FACTS:

Dr. Vicent Mercado was previously married with Thelma Oliva in 1976 before he contracted marriage with Consuelo Tan in 1991 which the latter claims she did not know.  Tan filed bigamy against Mercado and after a month the latter filed an action for declaration of nullity of marriage against Oliva.  The decision in 1993 declared marriage between Mercado and Oliva null and void. 

ISSUE: Whether Mercado committed bigamy in spite of filing the declaration of nullity of the former marriage.

HELD:

A judicial declaration of nullity of a previous marriage is necessary before a subsequent one can be legally contracted.  One who enters into a subsequent marriage without first obtaining such judicial declaration is guilty of bigamy.  This principle applies even if the earlier union is characterized by statute as “void.”

In the case at bar, Mercado only filed the declaration of nullity of his marriage with Oliva right after Tan filed bigamy case.  Hence, by then, the crime had already been consummated.  He contracted second marriage without the judicial declaration of the nullity.  The fact that the first marriage is void from the beginning is not a defense in a bigamy charge.