SC rules Filipina’s marriage of convenience to American valid

I would like to share a case about a Filipina who filed a petition to the Supreme Court to nullify her marriage with an American,  claiming that she only married him to acquire US citizenship.  

Here is an excerpt from the report made by the Philippine Daily Inquirer :

"The high court’s Third Division, in a decision dated Oct. 16, denied the woman’s petition, saying that as far as the state was concerned, the couple, regardless of their motive, freely consented to the marriage and were therefore bound by it. “Although the court views with disdain the (her) attempt to utilize marriage for dishonest purposes, it cannot declare the marriage void. Hence, though [her] marriage may be considered a sham or fraudulent for the purposes of immigration, it is not void ab initio and continues to be valid and subsisting,” the Court said in an 11-page decision written by Justice Jose Mendoza.

The division chair, Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr., and members Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Arturo Brion and Diosdado Peralta, concurred in the ruling. The justices ruled that “marriages entered into for other purposes, limited or otherwise, such as convenience, companionship, money, status and title, provided that they comply with all the legal requisites, are equally valid.”

According to case records, the petitioner and her husband were married in civil rites at a Mandaluyong City court in October 2004. In December 2006, however, the wife petitioned the Imus City Regional Trial Court for a declaration of nullity, admitting that she had only wed the American to acquire US citizenship and even arranged to pay him $2,000 in exchange for his consent. She described their marriage as “one made in jest,” adding that immediately after their marriage, they separated and never lived as husband and wife because they never really had any intention of entering into a married state and complying with their marital obligations. Moreover, she said, she never heard from her husband again and she was unable to pay him the $2,000 that she promised because he never processed her petition for US citizenship. The husband, served a summons in the United States, did not take part in the case."

Read the full report from Inquirer