Collateral attack - A LAW EACH DAY (Keeps Trouble Away) By Jose C....

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Opinion

Collateral attack
A LAW EACH DAY (Keeps Trouble Away) By Jose C. Sison (The Philippine Star) Updated March 10, 2011 12:00 AM Comments (0)

In a petition for correction or cancellation of entry in the Civil Registry, can the court also determine the validity of the marriage and the legitimacy and filiation of the child? This is the question answered in this case of Cory. Cory married Pabling on January 4, 1978. Their union bore three children, two boys and a girl. But after 24 years of marriage or on April 15, 2002, Pabling died while abroad. During the wake following the repatriation of Pablings remains back here, a woman by the name Celia began introducing herself and the minor boy she brought along with her as the wife and son of Pabling. Thereupon, Cory made inquiries in the civil registry and found out that the boys name was Alfie born on January 1, 1996 with Celia as the mother and Pabling as the father, acknowledged by Pabling as his son and subsequently legitimated by virtue of the marriage of the parents on April 22, 1998. Cory likewise obtained a copy of the marriage contract showing that Pabling and Celia were indeed married on April 22, 1998. Thus on December 23, 2005, Cory, in her behalf and in behalf of her children filed before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) a petition to correct the entries in the birth record of Alfie in the Local Civil Registrar under Rule 108 of the Rules of Court charting the procedure by which an entry in the Local Civil Registry may be cancelled or corrected. In the petition, Cory and her children alleged that Alfie could not have been legitimated by the supposed marriage between Pabling and Celia because said marriage was bigamous on account of the valid and subsisting marriage between her and Pabling. Thus they prayed for (1) the correction of the entries in Alfies birth record with respect to his legitimation, the name of his father, and his acknowledgment, and the use of the surname of Pabling; (2) a directive to the guardians of Alfie to submit Alfie to DNA testing to determine his paternity and filiation; and (3) the declaration of nullity of Alfies legitimation and, for this purpose, the declaration of the marriage of Pabling and Celia as bigamous. On September 6, 2007 however, on motion of Alfie and his guardians, the RTC dismissed the petition without prejudice, holding that in a special proceeding for correction of entry, the court which is not acting as family court under the Family Code, has no jurisdiction over an action to annul the marriage of Celia and Pabling, impugn the legitimacy of Alfie and order Alfie to be subjected to DNA testing. Hence the RTC said that the controversy should be ventilated in an ordinary adversarial action. Was the RTC correct? Yes. In a special proceeding for correction or cancellation of entries in the Original Registry under Rule 108 of the Rules of Court vis a vis, Article 412 of the Civil Code, the trial court has no jurisdiction to nullify marriages and to rule on legitimacy and filiation of a child. In this case, the causes of action of Cory and her children is actually to seek the declaration of nullity of Pabling and Celias marriage as void for being bigamous and to impugn Alfies legitimacy, which are governed not by Rule 108 but by Administrative Order No. 02-11-10-SC that took effect on March 6, 2003 and Article 171 of the Family Code respectively. Hence the petition should be filed in a family court as expressly provided in said Code. The validity of marriages as well as legitimacy and filiation can be questioned only in a direct action seasonably filed by the proper party (in this case the heirs of Pabling), and not through a collateral attack such as this petition filed before the RTC (Braza et. al. vs. Civil Registrar of Himaymaylan City Negros Oriental, et.al, G.R. 181174 December 4, 2009, 607 SCRA638)

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Collateral attack - A LAW EACH DAY (Keeps Trouble Away) By Jose C....

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