Jessamae V.

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Assignment in Legal Opinion
1. What is an affidavit?
An affidavit is statement of facts which is sworn to (or affirmed) before an
officer who has authority to administer an oath (e.g. a notary public). The person
making the signed statement (affiant) takes an oath that the contents are, to the best
of their knowledge, true. It is also signed by a notary or some other judicial officer
that can administer oaths, affirming that the person signing the affidavit was under
oath when doing so. These documents are valuable to presenting evidence in court
when a witness is unavailable to testify in person. Affidavits may preserve the
testimony of persons who are unable to appear in court due to illness,
incarceration, moving out-of-state, death, etc. Judges frequently accept an affidavit
instead of the testimony of the witness and are used in place of live testimony in
many circumstances (for example, when a motion is filed, a supporting affidavit
may be filed with it).
2. What are the parts of an affidavit? Provide a sample affidavit.

An affidavit generally consists of statements of fact regarding the issue at

hand, with a section at the bottom for the affiant to swear to the truth of the
statements made and affix his/her signature, which is then notarized in a jurat.
Three essential elements must be satisfied to constitute a complete affidavit. They
are: (1) a written oath representing the facts as sworn to by the affiant; (2) the
signature of the affiant; and (3) the attestation by an officer authorized to
administer the oath that the affidavit was actually sworn by the affiant in the
presence of that officer.

An affidavit typically includes a title or caption, signature of the affiant, the

jurat, and the body of the instrument. An affidavit should also state the venue. The
substance of the document makes it an affidavit. If the affiant is competent to
testify to the contents of the affidavit at trial, then mere technical deficiencies do
not render the affidavit improper.
 MY SAMPLE AFFIDAVIT

I, ___________________________________, of legal age, currently residing at

__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
______________________, after having been duly sworn in accordance with law,
do hereby depose and state that:

1. I am a non-resident Filipino citizen/ Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) with

proof of permission to work abroad as evidenced by my
_______________________________ (choose any of the following if
applicable: Working Visa, Working Permit, POEA ID or POEA Certificate)
with number ___________________."

2. My source of income is from outside the Philippines and I do not derive any
income from Philippine sources. As such, I am not required to file an
Individual Income Tax Return (ITR) in the Philippines.

3. Likewise, I have never applied for and been issued a TIN.

4. I am executing this Sworn Statement to attest to the truth of all the

foregoing statements and for whatever legal purposes it may serve.

5. I undertake to immediately inform HSBC and submit the ITR annually in

the event that I have income earned from sources within the Philippines. My
failure to do so will be considered a breach of the terms and conditions of
my loan with HSBC.

IN WITNESS THEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this ___ day of

__________ 200_.

__________________________________________
Affiant (affix signature above printed name)

Republic of the Philippines )

City of __________ ) S.S.
SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN TO before me this ___ day of __________
201__ affiant exhibiting before me his/her Community Tax Certificate No.
____________________ issued on ___________________ at
_____________________ and __________________________ I.D. issued on
_________________________ and will expire on _________________________.

Doc. No.
Page No.
Book No.
Series of 200__.

3. How does a jurat differ from an acknowledgment?

documents requiring a jurat must be signed in the Notary’s presence, as
dictated by the typical jurat wording, “Subscribed (signed) and sworn to before
me…” In executing a jurat, a notary guarantees that the signer: (a) personally
appeared before the notary, (b) was given an oath or affirmation by the notary, and
finally (c) signed in the Notary’s presence.
While it is important for a notary to understand the difference between an
acknowledgment and a jurat, notaries public are not allowed to determine which
type of certificate a signer uses. To do so would be considered practicing law
without a license. A notary can only ask the signer which form they prefer. If they
don’t know, the notary will refer them to the source of the document for an answer.
An alternative for a signer who cannot ascertain which certificate to use would be
to ask the notary to affix both types which is a perfectly acceptable request.
On the other hand, an acknowledgment certificate indicates that the signer:
(a) personally appeared before the Notary, (b) was identified by the Notary, and (c)
acknowledged to the Notary that the document was freely signed.
Contrary to popular belief, documents requiring acknowledgments do not
need to be signed in the notary’s presence in most states even though the latter
would be highly preferred whenever possible. The confusion comes from the fact
that the signer must appear before the Notary at the time of notarization to
acknowledge that he or she freely signed for the purposes stated in the document.
 To summarize, the key difference between a jurat over acknowledgment is
that the former is used primarily when dealing with sworn statements and the latter
typically applies to documents that must be signed in front of an unbiased
independent witness also known as the notary.

4. What is a legal opinion?

Legal opinion in the broad sense refers to a written statement by a court,
judicial officer, or legal expert as to the legality or illegality of an action, condition,
or intent. It can be a written document in which an attorney provides his or her
understanding of the law as applied to assumed facts.

5. What are the different parts of a legal opinion?

1. Title and Heading
2. Introduction
3. Brief Summary of decision
4. Facts/Background
5. Standard of Review
6. Issues/Analysis
7. Legal Reasoning
8. Holding
9. Conclusion

6. Write a legal opinion on the material I posted.

Ford Law Office

Metro Manila
03 October 2019

Ms. Mel G.
Tindalo Street
Muntinlupa City
Re: The possibility of subsequent marriage to not prosper and plead guilty of
bigamy without annulment in court.

Dear Ms. Mel,

This is the legal opinion you had requested from my office. The facts,
gathered from you and your documents are as follows:

Last year, you met Mr. Jake Cyruz, the man you are planning to marry after you
fell in love with. He was a salesman back then in his uncle’s sewing machines
company then and lives in Dian Street, Makati city. In January, he confessed to you
that he had a relationship with a woman named Esther Salva five years ago. Ester
got pregnant but unfortunately Jake did not marry her. Esther registered their
daughter using his surname Lopez and told him afterwards. Both of you decided to
get married where in fact all the necessary preparations from are ready and
invitations are already out until last month, you received a letter by mail, copies of
a marriage license issued by the Civil Registrar of Imus, Cavite dated September
17, 2017 in favor of Jake and Esther together with a certificate of marriage
showing that they were married at the office of some religious pastor at the back of
Manila City Hall on August 4, 2012. He was shocked when you showed him the
documents and insisted that he never married Esther. Because of your strong belief
in him, you even had a handwriting expert examine the documents with Jake’s
specimen handwritings and signatures where the expert firmly assert that it was
definitely not those of Jake. Jake confronted Esther about it and confessed that in
2012 out of sheer desperation, she got the marriage license from Cavite with
someone’s help and paid for the marriage certificate from an office near the city
hall of Manila. Esther suspects that her father sent the letter. Her father resented
that he would be getting married and he appeared to have said that he would file
charges of bigamy against Jake. Even though those documents are forged but they
are part of the official records of the Manila Civil Registry and the National
Statistics Office (now PSA).

The issues from the above statement are clear:

1. Whether or not Esther and Jake’s marriage valid

2. Whether or not Mr. Jake Cyruz be charged of bigamy after
marrying you
 3. Whether or not your marriage be valid if you continue with
your wedding
Jake’s marriage to Esther is VOID since indeed it lacks both the essential
and formal requisites of marriage. The Article 2 of the Family Code provides that
No marriage shall be valid, unless these essential requisites are present:
(1) Legal capacity of the contracting parties who must be a male
and a female; and
(2) Consent freely given in the presence of the solemnizing officer;
Art. 3. The formal requisites of marriage are:
(1) Authority of the solemnizing officer;
(2) A valid marriage license except in cases provided for in
chapter 2 of this Title; and
(3) A marriage ceremony which takes place with the appearance of
the contracting parties before the solemnizing officer and their
personal declaration that they take each other as husband and
wife in the presence of not less than two witnesses of legal age.
Art. 4. The absence of any of the essential or formal requisites
shall render the marriage void ab initio, except as stated in Article
35 (2).
A defect in any essential requisites shall not affect the validity
of the marriage but the party or parties responsible for the
irregularity shall be civilly, criminally and administratively liable.

For the second issue, Yes, Mr. Jake Cyruz will be charged of bigamy because
under Article 349 of the Revised Penal Code, it states that:

“The penalty of prison 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.”
 Marriage contracted knowing that the requirements of the law have not been
complied with or that the marriage is in disregard of a legal impediment is
punishable by prision correccional in its medium and maximum periods.

For the third issue, if you wish to pursue your marriage with Mr. Jake Cyruz,
I am afraid it will not be valid without further obtaining the decree of Absolute
Nullity of Marriage in Court. You have the burden of proof to convince the court
that Jake’s marriage to Esther is a product of forgery and that it lacks the necessary
requirement.
Under Article 40 of the Family Code, it states that:
“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.”
“It is now settled that the fact that the first marriage is void
from the beginning is not a defense in a bigamy charge. As with a
voidable marriage, there must be a judicial declaration of the nullity of
a marriage. Article 40 of the Family code states that xxx. The code
commission believes that the parties to a marriage should not be
allowed to assume that their marriage is void, even if such is the fact,
but must first secure a judicial declaration of nullity of their marriage
before they should be allowed to marry again. Xxx.” (Mercado vs.
Tan, G.R. 137110, August 1, 2000, 337 SCRA 122)
As a legal practitioner, I would highly recommend and advise for Mr. Jake
Cyrus to file first a petition for an Absolute Nullity of Marriage before pursuing
with your wedding ceremony. This is to avoid further impediments that may occur
on your relationship if not well recognized.
I hope that I am able to answer your queries. For further discussion, you may
see me at my office at your most convenient time.

Respectfully yours,

Atty. Xander Ford

Ford Law Office