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Mercado vs. Tan

Vincent Mercado was charged with bigamy for marrying Consuelo Tan while still legally married to Thelma Oliva. [1] Mercado and Oliva were married in 1976 and that marriage was still valid when Mercado married Tan in 1991. [2] Tan filed a complaint against Mercado for bigamy in 1992. [3] Mercado then filed to have his marriage to Oliva declared null, which it was in 1993, but the Supreme Court upheld his conviction for bigamy because the elements of the crime were met when he married Tan while still married to Oliva.

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95 views2 pages

Mercado vs. Tan

Vincent Mercado was charged with bigamy for marrying Consuelo Tan while still legally married to Thelma Oliva. [1] Mercado and Oliva were married in 1976 and that marriage was still valid when Mercado married Tan in 1991. [2] Tan filed a complaint against Mercado for bigamy in 1992. [3] Mercado then filed to have his marriage to Oliva declared null, which it was in 1993, but the Supreme Court upheld his conviction for bigamy because the elements of the crime were met when he married Tan while still married to Oliva.

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Iris Dinah
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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G.R. No.

137110               August 1, 2000


VINCENT PAUL G. MERCADO a.k.a. VINCENT G. MERCADO, petitioner,
vs.
CONSUELO TAN, respondent.

Facts:
Accused Dr. Vincent Mercado and complainant Ma. Consuelo Tan got married on June
27, 1991 before MTCC-Bacolod City Br. 7 Judge Gorgonio J. Ibañez [by reason of]
which a Marriage Contract was duly executed and... signed by the parties. As entered in
said document, the status of accused was 'single'. There is no dispute either that at the
time of the celebration of the wedding with complainant, accused was actually a married
man, having been in lawful wedlock with Ma. Thelma Oliva in a marriage ceremony
solemnized on April 10, 1976 by Judge Leonardo B. Cañares, CFI-Br. XIV, Cebu City
per Marriage Certificate issued in connection therewith, which matrimony was further
blessed by Rev. Father Arthur Baur on October 10, 1976 in religious rites at the Sacred
Heart Church, Cebu City.

"On October 5, 1992, a letter-complaint for bigamy was filed by complainant through
counsel with the City Prosecutor of Bacolod City, which eventually resulted [in] the
institution of the present case before this Court against said accused, Dr. Vincent G.
Mercado, on March 1,1993 in an Information dated January 22, 1993.

More than a month after the bigamy case was lodged in the Prosecutor’s Office,
accused filed an action for Declaration of Nullity of Marriage against Ma. Thelma V.
Oliva in RTC-Br. 22, Cebu City, and in a Decision dated May 6, 1993 the marriage
between Vincent G. Mercado and Ma. Thelma V. Oliva was declared null and void.
Despite this, the Trial Court charged Vincent with bigamy since his prior marriage was
still subsisting at the time he had contracted his second marriage. The Court of Appeals
affirmed the ruling of the trial court. The petitioner then filed a case to the Supreme
Court.

ISSUE:

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

HELD:
"The penalty of prision mayor shall be imposed upon any person who shall contract a
second or subsequent marriage before the former marriage has been legally dissolved,
or before the absent spouse has been declared presumptively dead by means of a
judgment rendered... in the proper proceedings."

The elements of this crime are as follows:


"1. That the offender has been legally married;
2. That the marriage has not been legally dissolved or, in case his or her spouse is
absent, the absent spouse could not yet be presumed dead according to the Civil Code;
3. That he contracts a second or subsequent marriage;
4. That the second or subsequent marriage has all the essential requisites for validity."

In the instant case, petitioner contracted a second marriage although there was yet no
judicial declaration of nullity of his first marriage. In fact, he instituted the Petition to
have the first marriage declared void only after complainant had filed a letter-
complaint... charging him with bigamy. By contracting a second marriage while the first
was still subsisting, he committed the acts punishable under Article 349 of the Revised
Penal Code.

That he subsequently obtained a judicial declaration of the nullity of the first marriage
was immaterial. To repeat, the crime had already been consummated by then.
Moreover, his view effectively encourages delay in the prosecution of bigamy cases; an
accused could simply... file a petition to declare his previous marriage void and invoke
the pendency of that action as a prejudicial question in the criminal case. We cannot
allow that.

Under the circumstances of the present case, he is guilty of the charge against him.

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