Q. Hi Wong , I’ve been reading your advices in the Balita together with our fellow kababayans. Naglakas loob po akong sumulat sa inyo dahil sa aking problema. I don’t know kung saan ako hihingi ng advice since I don’t have any relative here in Canada.
I don’t know kung ano ang itatawag ninyo sa akin because my life is so complicated.
Way back 2001 , I met a guy thru my friend in Hong kong , we became friends thru letters then when I went home for vacation on that year we became friends and later he became my boyfriend.
So I brought Him home to our province. My family welcomed him and treated him well. I trusted him since I know he was a religious guy. At that time I was desperate to meet a guy because I was broken hearted .
I had just broke off with my boyfriend of seven(7) years . To cover up the hurt in me and to show to this boyfriend that he was not indispensable in this world, I have agreed to marry this new boyfriend while I was in Manila with him.
I trusted this guy. We stayed several days in Manila before my scheduled departure for Hong Kong. Then, unexpectedly, he took to Manila City Hall. We met somebody there and later on I realized that we were having a marriage ceremony .
After the ceremony, we came out from that office of the City Hall and few hours later, he sent me off the airport to catch my flight to Hong Kong. After that we had series of communication exchanges and I was told that unless I will convert to their religion , his parents could not accept me. As I could not imagine myself embracing his religion, our relationship eventually soured and we parted ways.
For several years already or since 2001, we did not have anymore any communication. This is now my problem.
In my application for permanent residence, I declared that I was not married based on the belief that the marriage ceremony at the City Hall was just a hoax. However, this belief was proven wrong when my attention was called by the immigration authorities pointing to the fact of my married as reflected in the records of the NSO.
Ano ba and dapat kung gawin para mapawalang bisa itong marriage na ito and mabura ang records na ito sa NSO ?
I do hope you can give me some advice Atty .Thank you so much in advance. May God bless you for all the help you gave us. Yours truly, Marlene.
Ans: If what you narrated of what happened at the City Hall of Manila is accurate to the effect that right then and there, you got married with without first complying with the requirements of the law prior to the solemnization of marriage , like securing first a marriage license,etc., then your marriage was null and void.
And/or if no marriage license was obtained simply because an affidavit of cohabitation for at least five(5) years was engendered to circumvent the marriage license requirement then such fact could be ground to have your marriage annulled.
However, considering that your marriage was registered, the legal presumption is that the same is valid and subsisting. This is just a legal presumption and can only be overturned or set aside by a lawful order of the Court nullifying such marriage on the grounds mentioned above .
Your remedy to correct this situation is to initiate legal proceedings in the Philippines for the declaration of nullity of your marriage and/or to petition for the annulment of your marriage . You need to engage the services of lawyer for this job. Thank you for writing and good luck.