MEMORANDUM

Elias Sanchez v. Emma Bonaobra-Sanchez

Civil Case No. 2019-12-28 for Declaration of Nullity of Marriage

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

12th Judicial Region
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
Branch 13
Cotabato City

ELIAS SANCHEZ, CIVIL CASE No. 2019-12-28

Petitioner,
For:
- versus –
DECLARATION OF NULLITY OF
EMMA BONAOBRA-SANCHEZ, MARRIAGE
Respondent.
x-----------------------------------------x

MEMORANDUM

WITH ALL DUE RESPECT TO THIS HONORABLE COURT,

petitioner, through the undersigned counsel, submits this Memorandum
for the Petitioner and states that:

1. PRELIMINARY STATEMENT

1.1 This is a petition for declaration of nullity of marriage under

Article 36 of the Family Code;

1.2 Copies of the Petition were sent by personal service to the

Counsel of the Respondent, Office of the Solicitor General and
to the Office of the City Prosecutor;

1.3 After the summons and copy of the petition was published, the
Court issued an Order directing the Office of the City
Prosecutor to conduct an investigation whether or not
collusion was present in the filing of the petition. Whereupon,
Assistant City Prosecutor Lucrecia Guzman was directed to
conduct investigation as to whether or not collusion exists
between the parties in the filing of the instant petition;

1.4 In her report dated January 7, 2020, which Assistant City

Prosecutor Guzman submitted to this court, she stated “there
appears to be no collusion between the parties.” Thereafter,
pre-trial conference was set and terminated on February 27,
2020 admitted fact/s was stipulated, issues were defined and

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MEMORANDUM
Elias Sanchez v. Emma Bonaobra-Sanchez
Civil Case No. 2019-12-28 for Declaration of Nullity of Marriage

the documents were marked, After the pre-trial of this case,

trial on the merits ensued;

2. THE PARTIES

2.1 Petitioner is Filipino, of legal age and married to respondent

and a resident of Ortouste St., Rosary Heights 6, Cotabato City;

2.2 Respondent is a Filipino citizen, of legal age, and married

to petitioner, and a resident of Macapagal St., Cotabato City.

3. STATEMENT OF FACTS AND OF THE CASE

3.1 That the Petitioner and the Respondent are husband and wife
having been legally married on December 29, 2007 at Cotabato
City;

3.2 That both parties admit that their marriage is constantly

marred by disagreements and frequent fights, no one giving in
for another;

3.3 That the respondent’s unwillingness to undergo medication to

conceive is a manifestation of her lack of concern for her
obligation as a wife;

3.4 That the despite the efforts of the Petitioner to convince the
Respondent to cohabitate, she refuses to because of her
unrelenting desire to pursue further studies at the expenses of
her family;

3.5 That such actuations of the Respondent is a manifestation of

her aversion to perform her marital obligations as she failed to
provide the Petitioner with the companionship, respect,
mutual help, support, and care required by law;

3.6 The results of the psychological evaluation conducted shows

that the inability of the Respondent to discharge the essential
obligations of marriage is grave and incurable, as the acts
constituting the same are habitual, persistent, unchanging and
of enduring nature.

3.7 From the evidence, testimonial and documentary, adduced by

herein petitioner, the petitioner and respondent are living
together in the same roof as husband and wife in 2004 before
they got married on December 29, 2007. Petitioner works as
aircraft mechanic at Lufthansa Technik Philippines from year

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MEMORANDUM
Elias Sanchez v. Emma Bonaobra-Sanchez
Civil Case No. 2019-12-28 for Declaration of Nullity of Marriage

2006-2011 while the Respondent worked with the Office of the

President and later at Japanese Embassy in Manila;

3.8 The newlyweds rented an apartment while they were in

Manila. Their married life was marred by frequent flights and
disagreements, as they were not really in love with each other
and were constantly at odds, no one giving in for the other;

3.9 As shared by the Petitioner as well as other corroborating

witnesses, the Petitioner constantly expressed his desire to
have a child but the Respondent cannot conceive even after
fertility consultations because the Respondent refuses to
follow Doctor’s orders/medical advice for impregnation;

3.10 In year 2011, the Respondent went to Singapore and thereafter

followed by the Respondent. Both parties stayed and worked
in Singapore. After three years, the Respondent decided to go
back to the Philippines and asked the Respondent to be with
him, but the latter refused and chose to remain in Singapore.
Despite the efforts of the Petitioner to convince the
Respondent to cohabitate, she refuses to because of her desire
to pursue further studies at the expense of her family;

3.11 Time went by, it has been more convenient for the both parties
to live separately as they would frequently fight when they are
together. Such circumstance resulted to inability of both
parties to perform the essential obligations of marriage.

4. ISSUES TO BE RESOLVED

4.1 Whether or not the Respondent has failed to comply with the
essential marital obligations stated in Article 68 of the Family
Code;

4.2 If the Respondent has failed to comply with the essential

marital obligations stated in Article 68 of the Family Code,
whether or not such failure was due to psychological
incapacity which is grave, serious and incurable and existing at
the time of the marriage, though only manifesting itself during
the marriage.

5. STATEMENT OF ARGUMENTS/DISCUSSION

5.1 Petitioner’s corroborative witness, his cousin, Ms. Aileen

Navales who is also a colleague of the Respondent testified in
her Judicial Affidavit on the constant fighting of the parties,

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MEMORANDUM
Elias Sanchez v. Emma Bonaobra-Sanchez
Civil Case No. 2019-12-28 for Declaration of Nullity of Marriage

because the latter is always pre-occupied with her work and

did not bother to look after the family. She expressed in her
Judicial Affidavit, the following statements:

“The Respondent is self-centered and is only concern

about her career and professional accomplishments,”
now she is in Manila because she was given a higher
position and pursuing higher studies. Since the
Respondent left Singapore, she did not bother to
make amends or tried to reconcile with the
Petitioner.”

5.2 Mr. Darwin Louie Acosta, another corroborative witness of the

Petitioner also gave a similar statement on the actuations of
the Petitioner towards:

“The Respondent had always been so consumed with

her desire to earn a high position in the organization
where is working and that it was always about her
pursuit of her professional growth as her foremost
priority rather than to start building their family.”

5.3 The Petitioner also presented statement from expert witness,

Ms. Hanna Mae Dizon, clinical psychologist from Department of
Psychiatry, Davao Medical Center who conducted series of
tests upon petitioner, the respondent and his corroborative
witnesses;

5.4 The results of the psychological evaluation as stated in the

Judicial Affidavit of Ms. Dizon shows that the Respondent is
suffering from a personality disorder characterized by a
pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration and lack
of empathy as indicated by the following:

a) she has as a grandiose sense of self-importance;

b) she has a sense of entitlement;
c) she is interpersonally exploitative where she takes
advantage of others to achieve her own ends;
d) she lacks empathy;
e) she is unwilling to recognize or identify with the
feelings of his husband and she showed arrogant
behaviors.

5.5 Such actuations lead to the inability of the Respondent to

discharge the essential obligations of marriage, which is grave
and incurable, as the acts constituting the same are habitual,
persistent, unchanging and of enduring nature. The Petitioner

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MEMORANDUM
Elias Sanchez v. Emma Bonaobra-Sanchez
Civil Case No. 2019-12-28 for Declaration of Nullity of Marriage

according to Ms Dizon also exhibited personality disorder that

are responsible for their inability to fulfill their marital
obligations;

5.6 At the end of the expert witness’ testimony, she recommended

that, in view of her clinical findings that both parties are
psychologically incapacitated to comply with the essential
obligations of marriage, the marriage be declared a nullity
under Article 36 of the New Family Code;

5.7 The characteristics of psychological incapacity must exhibit

gravity, antecedence and incurability. It is grave if the subject
cannot carry out the normal duties of marriage and the family
shouldered by any average couple existing under everyday
circumstances of life and work. It is antecedent to marriage if
at least the roots of the trouble can be traced to the history of
the subject before the marriage, although its overt
manifestations appear only after the wedding. Lastly, it is
incurable if the required treatments exceed the ordinary
means of the subject. Thus, if the required treatments exceed
the ordinary means of the subject, his psychological fitness is
incurable;

5.8 The determination whether a person is psychologically

incapacitated to comply with the essential obligations of
marriage is on a case-to-case basis, depending on the facts and
circumstances attending the marital relationship of the couple.
The actions and attitude of a spouse towards his or her partner
and to the marital relationship are classified as manifestations
of psychological incapacity. Such manifestation must be
directly related to the exercise of the spouse’s marital
obligations of the spouse to his or her partner.

5.9 Thus in the case of Ngo Te v. Yu-Te, G.R. No. 161793,

February 13, 2009, the Supreme Court ruled and we quote:

“Each case must still be decided based upon the facts

attending to the same. Every annulment case must
be decided and treated differently. An annulment of
marriage based upon psychological incapacity is not
against the constitutional policy of protecting the
marriage as a social institution. In fact it protects
the spouses in the marriage, who in the first place
should not have been married because the other
party is suffering from psychological incapacity. In
fact, Article 36 of the Family Code is designed to

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MEMORANDUM
Elias Sanchez v. Emma Bonaobra-Sanchez
Civil Case No. 2019-12-28 for Declaration of Nullity of Marriage

protect the sanctity of marriage by annulling those

marriages of people who are suffering from
psychological incapacity to comply with the essential
obligations of marriage.”

5.10 In the case of Ting v. Ting, G.R. No. 166562, the Supreme
Court held and we quote:

“To require the petitioner to allege in the petition the

particular root cause of the psychological incapacity
and to attach thereto the verified written report of
an accredited psychologist or psychiatrist have
proved to be too expensive for the parties. They
adversely affect access to justice of poor litigants. It
is also a fact that there are provinces where these
experts are not available. Thus, the Committee
deemed it necessary to relax this stringent
requirement enunciated in the Molina case.”

5.11 But where, as in this case, the parties had the full opportunity
to present professional and expert opinions of psychiatrists
tracing the root cause, gravity and incurability of a party’s
alleged psychological incapacity, then such expert opinion
should be presented and accordingly, be weighed by the court
in deciding whether to grant a petition for nullity of marriage;

5.12 Such is the case at bar, the psychologist was able to conduct a
clinical study on the psychological incapacity of both petitioner
and respondent to comply with the essential obligations of
marriage and was able to identify its juridical antecedents and
prove the gravity and incurability of the psychological
dysfunction;

5.13 Petitioner and respondent could never live together

harmoniously considering the psychological incapacity of both
parties. Their marriage is already beyond repair, as possible
reconciliation and respect fidelity authentic cohabitation as
husband and wife, mutual help support, and commitment did
not and will no longer exist between them;

5.14 With due consideration of the above-mentioned findings, the

psychologist recommended that the marriage that ties between
petitioner and respondent, be declared null and void".

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MEMORANDUM
Elias Sanchez v. Emma Bonaobra-Sanchez
Civil Case No. 2019-12-28 for Declaration of Nullity of Marriage

PRAYER

WHEREFORE, premises considered, it is most respectfully prayed

that the marriage between the petitioner and respondent be declared
void from the beginning under Article 36 of the Family Code.

Cotabato City. April 20, 2020.

Assisted by:

ATTY. CAMILA DELA TORRE

Counsel for the Petitioner
Door 1, AAA Building, Sinsuat Avenue
9600 Cotabato City
Roll of Attorney No. 12345
MCLE Compliance No. V-0098765 valid until 4/20/2022
PTR No. 246810/01.04.20/Cotabato City
IBP Lifetime Member No. 078910

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MEMORANDUM
Elias Sanchez v. Emma Bonaobra-Sanchez
Civil Case No. 2019-12-28 for Declaration of Nullity of Marriage

VERIFICATION

I, Elias Sanchez, Filipino, of legal age and married to respondent

and a resident of Ortouste St., Rosary Heights 6, Cotabato City, under
oath hereby depose and state that:

1) That I am one of the defendant in the above-entitled case;

2) That I caused the preparation of this Memorandum;

3) I have read and understood the contents thereof and the

allegations stated therein are true and correct to the best of my
personal knowledge and based on authentic records.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 20 th day

of April 2020 at Cotabato City, Philippines.

ELIAS SANCHEZ
Petitioner

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me this 20th day of April 2020

at Cotabato City with affiant exhibiting to me his Professional Driver’s
License Number M0-09-876543 issued on February 14, 2019 at
Cotabato City.

ATTY. CARLA SAMUEL

Notary Public
Commission Expires December 31, 2020
Roll of Attorney No. 88888
PTR No. 233450/01.05.20/Cotabato City
IBP Lifetime Member No. 224466

Doc. No. 50
Page No. 2
Book No. 2
Series of 2020

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MEMORANDUM
Elias Sanchez v. Emma Bonaobra-Sanchez
Civil Case No. 2019-12-28 for Declaration of Nullity of Marriage

Copy furnished through personal service:

CLERK OF COURT
Regional Trial Court
Branch 13
Cotabato City

ATTY. JACK THOR S. SPARROW

Counsel for the Respondent
Block 69 Governorsillo Street, RH-7
9600 Cotabato City

Copy furnished through registered mail:

OFFICE OF THE SOLICITOR GENERAL

134 Amorsolo Street, Legazpi Village
Makati, Kalakhang Maynila

OFFICE OF THE CITY PROSECUTOR

2nd Floor, Hall of Justice
Antipolo City, Rizal

EXPLANATION

Pursuant to the Provision of Rule 13, Section 11 of the 1997 Rules in

Civil Procedure as Amended, undersigned submits this Explanation that
the service of this Pre- Trial was to Office of the Solicitor General and
Office of the City Prosecutor by Registered Mail instead of personal serve
in view of lack of manpower.

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