Legally annuling a marriage goes beyond the ‘barangay’

Legally annuling a marriage goes beyond the ‘barangay’ " My husband and I agreed to live our lives separately. We didn’t have any children during our short time together as a married couple. We also agreed before barangay (village) authorities to mutually and formally annul our marriage and to let each other go already. I am in a new relationship now, and my boyfriend at present and I are planning to get married. We applied for a marriage license in our town but we were refused since I was still married according to them despite the fact that I provided them with the copy of my agreement with my ex-husband from our barangay about our annulment years ago. Why don’t they allow us to marry again despite the consent of my ex-husband to the annulment? What do you think, PAO? Please give us an advice! God bless you! RomancitaDear Romancita, It is important to understand that the law characterizes marriage as an inviolable social institution whose nature, consequences and incidents are governed by law and not subject to stipulations (Article 1, Title 1, Family Code of the Philippines). As such, the procedure in both allowing and dissolving a marriage is based on provisions of law, not on mere agreement of the parties.It takes more than just an agreement in the barangay to legally annul a marriage. Annulment of a marriage requires filing of an appropriate petition before the court and the conduct of a formal hearing therein to prove that specific legal grounds to annul a marriage are present in a case. The court will then ascertain and decide if requirements of law have been satisfied, and only then can there be legal annulment of marriage. On your intention to remarry and your attempt to apply for a marriage license, it is only right for the civil registrar of your locality to disapprove your application since applicants who were previously married are required by law to furnish their office the judicial decree of annulment or declaration of nullity of a previous marriage. (Article 13, Id.) Since there is no judicial declaration of annulment or nullity of your previous marriage, the local civil registrar cannot allow your application for a marriage license.Should you insist on marrying your current partner despite having a legally existing marriage, note that the law provides that any subsequent marriage despite an existing prior marriage will make the subsequent marriage void from the beginning. (Article 35(4), Id.) Thus, should you really desire to marry your current partner, we advise you to file the necessary legal action to judicially annul or nullify your current and existing marriage. Should you obtain a judicial decree annulling or nullifying your existing marriage, then you may legally remarry. Again, we find it necessary to mention that this opinion is solely based on the facts you have narrated and our appreciation of the same. The opinion may vary when the facts are changed or elaborated.We hope that we were able to enlighten you on the matterEditor’s note: Dear PAO is a daily column of the Public Attorney’s Office. Questions for Chief Acosta may be sent to " - https://www.affordablecebu.com/