Depariment of Justice Manila October 17, 1991 a OPINION NO, 44 S. Ig Civil Registrar General National Statistics Office Sta. Meea, Manila This refers to your request for ‘opinion on the interpretation of Article 5 of Executive Order No. 209. as amended, otherwise known as the Family Code of the Philippines, which reads: Art. 5. Any male or female of the £ eight sare or upwards not under any of the impedimen m Articles 37 and 38, may contract marriage Specifically, you pose the query as to whether the date of reckoning of the required minimum age of eighteen (18) years is the date of marriage or the Gate when the application for the issuance of a marriage license was filed. You state that some solemnizing officers are of the view that the reckoning date is the date of marriage. However, it is your view that the reckoning date 1a the date when the application for marriage license is filed with and accepted by the Jocal civil registrar. Your reasons are: 1. Ib je the local civil registrar who is legally empowered to determine the legal capacity of the parties to contract marriage: 2. Article 14 requires the local civil registrar to impose as an additional requirement, the submission of parental consent by either or both of the contracting parties who are between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one} ‘to consider the date of marriage as the date of reckoning for the required minimum age would be to empower the solemnizing officers, whose duty ie purely ministerial, to determine whether the parties are of marriageable age or not; and4. As in other types of application, ‘e.g. application for a driver’s license, the applicant for a marriage License should show all his qualifications in the application form and not before the solemnizing officer. An examination of all relevant provisions of the Family Code leads us to the conclueion that the attainment of the required minimum age for marriage should be reckoned, not on the date of filing of the application for issuance of a marriage license, but on the date of marriage. Both legal capacity, which includes legal age, and license are requisites of marriage, the absence of any of which would render the marriage void (Arts. 2, 3 and 35, Family Code). If a party to the marriage Jied about his age when he procured marriage license, the marriage would be void if it wae celebrated before the party attained the required mierepresentation in the marriage license as to his true and legal age but because he did not possess the required minimum age at the time he contracted the marriage. The law does not invalidate a duly issued license which was procured on the basis of false representations by the party concerned, although the mierepresenting party may be civilly, criminally, and administratively liable therefor (see Handbook on the Family Code by Sempio-Diy, p. 16) Furthermore, license may be dispensed with in certain marriages, such as a marriage in articulo mortie (Art. 27); a marriage between parties residing in remote places (Art. 28); and a marriage between parties who have previously cohabited for at least five years (Art. 34). In these cases, it would be incumbent upon the solemnizing officer to determine whether the contracting parties are of age and do not possess any other legal impediment to the marriage (Arts. 29 & 34). Obviously, the reckoning date for possession of the required minimum age would be the date of marriage and not the date of application or issuance of the marriage license, since there is no marriage license in these cases. Significantly, a marriage contracted by any party below eighteen years of age even with the consent of the parents or guardians 1s void from the beginning (Art. 35, par. 1). The samo is true where a marriage was solemnized without a license, save in ceptional cases (par. 3). On the other hand, a marriage solemnized without the requisite parentalconsent for those between the ages of eighteen and nid cause exieting at the time twenty-one years, of the marriage. « be voidable (Art. 45. par. 1) The ol mplication is that the requisites of age or parental consent must be satisfied as of the time of the celebration of the marri and not before or thereafter Certainly t is the duty of the loc civil = to a, ine thal the: applica are of tl required minimum ag However, it is believed that the local civil registrar should not refuse to issue a license for the reason alone that either or both parties do not meet the requisite age on the date of dage license as filing of the application for a mar’ long as they will become of age within the 120-day period of validity of the license (see Art. 20), and subject to the condition. which should advisedly be noted on the license. that the marriage shall not be celebrated until after the party or parties shall five become of age Ae previoucly ctated, legal age and license are two different requisites for marriage, and the presence of both requisites at the time of the celebration of the marriage ie mandatory for the validity of the marriage Please be guided accordingly Very truly yours, SILvEST Aeting Se etary