Fake marriage is null

Dear PAO,

My sister disclosed to me that she and a foreigner signed a purported marriage contract for the main purpose of facilitating her application for citizenship in the latter's country. They obtained the marriage contract form from a fixer who guaranteed that the contract would not be registered. No marriage ceremony took place, and she never lived with the foreigner. She is now in a relationship with a Filipino whom she wants to marry. When she applied for a certificate of no marriage, she was shocked that her fake marriage was registered. She obtained a certification from the local civil registrar that the marriage license number which was reflected in the marriage contract cannot be found on record. She wants to have the fake marriage invalidated but when she inquired on the matter, she was informed that the validity of the marriage will be upheld because it appears in the civil registry record. Is the fake marriage valid just because it was reflected on public record?

Tintin

Dear Tintin,

A valid marriage must comply with the essential requisites of marriage as provided under Article 2 of the Family Code of the Philippines, viz.:

«Art. 2. No marriage shall be valid, unless these essential requisites are present:

»(1) Legal capacity of the contracting parties who must be a male and a female; and

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"(2) Consent freely given in the presence of the solemnizing officer."

«Correlative thereto, Article 3 of the same law also states that:

»Art. 3. The formal requisites of marriage are:

"(1) Authority of the solemnizing officer;

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"(2) A valid marriage license except in the cases provided for in Chapter 2 of this Title; and

"(3) A marriage ceremony which takes place with the appearance of the contracting parties before the solemnizing officer and their personal declaration that they take each other as husband and wife in the presence of not less than two witnesses of legal age."

The effect of a want or absence of any essential or formal requisite of marriage is found under Article 4 of the said Code:

«Art. 4. The absence of any of the essential or formal requisites shall render the marriage void ab initio, except as stated in Article 35 (2).