Art. 36 THE FAMILY CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES the Art.

36

4ÿ (3) The Existence of Psychological Incapacity Depends on

o Under church laws, examples of "psychological incapacity"
will include, inter alia: a wrong concept of marital vows and the Facts of the Case
marital infidelity, adamant refusal to give support, unbearable Amy Perez-Ferraris v. Brix Ferraris
jealousy on the part of one party, indolence, extremely low 495 SCRA 396
o intelligence, criminality (or the state of a person consistently (2006)
getting into trouble with the law), sadism, epilepsy,
ISSUE: Whether or not psychological incapacity exists in
habitual alcoholism, drug addiction, compulsive gambling,
homosexuality a given case — calling for annulment of marriage — depends
in men or lesbianism in women, satyriasis in
" ™",
ÿ-
— -• — —•
ÿÿ ->
» •
" .»
1
* w
" • ~
crucially, more than in any field of the law, on the facts of the
men or nymphomania in women. And even if these causes
should manifest themselves long after the wedding as already case. n
Mill)

*
o
adverted to, said causes are considered to be POTENTIALLY
existing already at the time of the celebration of the marriage?
Surely, thisTs actual absolute divorce, although given another
HELD: Yes. Said the Supreme Court, thus:
1. The term "psychological incapacity" to be a ground
for the nullity of marriage under Art. 36 of the
\ I
name. I Family Code, refers to a serious psychological illness
affecting a party even b i\ v;

To quote the words of Dr. Veloso: "Isn't psychological

incapacity a ground for divorce? It should be if divorce
were allowed here. In countries permitting it, psychological 2.
marriage; and
A husband's alleged mixed personality disorder, the
I
incapacity could go under different names, such as mental 4•
"leaving-the-house" attitude whenever the spouses •

i
ÿ

M - -. \ I
cruelty or outright insanity. The difference between annulment I quarreled, the violent tendencies during epileptic r

lj attacks, the sexual infidelity, the abandonment and

* and divorce is real, but they produce the same result, namely,
freedom to marry again. Freedom is what people look for,
whatever the theoretical scaffolding leading to it." (Veloso,
!i
\t
lack of support, and, his preference to spend more
time with his bandmates than his family, are not
ÿ

\
11
rooted on some debilitatin tsvchological
m supra, pp. 36-37)
*
IB
'<
P unwillingness to assume the
Anent the nonexistence of absolute divorce, it is I*C
essential obligations of marriage. It is not enough.

mm--
* THEORETICALLY correct to say that we have NO divorce law
at present (except insofar as Muslim divorces are concerned).
But the startling TRUTH is that under Art. 36 of the new
to prove that, t.hp. parties failed to meet their
responsibilities and duties as married persons; it is_
essential that they must be shown to be incapable
Family Code (EO 209, as amended by EO 227, dated July 17,
of doing so, due to some psychological, ÿphysical,
>*r 1987), there seems to be a basis for the conclusion that we now
illness.
have a semblance of absolute divorce here in the Philippines.

I-
~* ÿÿm
m mm mmÿ
1 ÿ
'

Note that for marriages celebrated on or after Aug. 3, QUERY

A- 1988 (date of effectivity of the Family Code), the period within
which to file the action does NOT prescribe, i.e., the action can
be brought before our civil courts at ANYTIME. Likewise, there
Is an
marriage?
unsatisfactory

ANS.: No, it is not.

marriage considered

(Perez-Ferraris v.
a null

Ferraris,
and

495
void

SCRA
L | %
is no prescription for marriages entered into before said date.
(See Sec. 1, RA 8533, dated Feb. 23, 1998) 1
- 396 [2006])

CNOTE: Psychological incapacity DOES NOT refer to

mental incapacity tantamount to insanity [which merely
renders the marriage voidable].)
Is Art. 36 of
ANOTHER QUERY
the Family Code dealing
incapacity" the same as that of "divorce ?
with "psychological If ;s

384 385
P38y
"