PASTOR B.

TENCHAVEZ, plaintiff-appellant,
vs.
VICENTA F. ESCAÑO, ET AL., defendants-appellees.
G.R. No. L-19671
November 29, 1965
Ponente: REYES, J.B.L., J.

The plaintiff- appellant issued a direct appeal, questioning the final judgement of the Court of First
Instance in Cebu denying him for a legal separation and 1 million pesos in damages against his wife and
parents-in-law.

Facts:
 Vicenta Escano entered into a secret marriage before a Catholic Chaplain with the plaintiff-
appellant on 24 February 1948.
 Upon knowing of their daughter’s secret marriage, the parents of Vicenta sought priestly advice
to Father Reynes who then suggested for the wedding to be recelebrated.
 The recelebration of the marriage did not happen and the newlyweds eventually became
estranged.
 Vicenta went to the United States where she filed for a verified complaint of divorce against
Tenchavez on the ground of “extreme cruelty, entirely mental in character where she was issued a
decree of divorce “final and absolute”
 Vicenta later married an American whom she now lives with and begotten children.
 Vicenta claims a valid divorce from Tenchavez and a legal marriage to her American husband.

Issues:
 WON Tenchavez is entitled to a legal separation and to moral damages.
 WON the marriage and divorce acquired by Vicenta in the United States was valid and binding in
the Philippines.
Ruling:
 YES. Vicenta’s union to an American after the invalid divorce and undissolved marriage in the
Philippine law is adulterous in this jurisdiction and therefore, justifies an action of legal
separation on the part of the innocent consort of the first marriage.
 NO. The Court held that under Philippine law, the valid marriage between Tenchavez and Escaño
remained subsisting and undissolved notwithstanding the decree of absolute divorce that the wife
sought and obtained in Nevada. Article 15 of the Civil Code of the Philippines which was already
in force at the time expressly provided that “Laws relating to family rights and duties or to the
status, condition and legal capacity of persons are binding upon the citizens of the Philippines,
even though living abroad.”