Crimes against the civil status of persons
1. Simulation of births, substitution of one child for another and concealment or abandonment of a legitimate child (art. 347);
2. Usurpation of civil status (Art. 348); 3. Bigamy (Art. 349);
4. Marriage contracted against provisions of law (Art. 350);
5. Premature marriages (Art. 351);
6. Performance of illegal marriage ceremony (Art. 352).
Article 347. Simulation of Births, Substitution of One Child for Another, and Concealment of Abandonment of A Legitimate Child
Acts punished
1. Simulation of births;
2. Substitution of one child for another;
3. Concealing or abandoning any legitimate child with intent to cause such child to lose its civil status.
Illustration:
People who have no child and who buy and adopt the child without going through legal adoption.
If the child is being kidnapped and they knew that the kidnappers are not the real parents of their child, then simulation of birth is committed. If the parents are parties to the simulation by making it appear in the birth certificate that the parents who bought the child are the real parents, the crime is not falsification on the part of the parents and the real parents but simulation of birth.
Questions & Answers
1. A woman who has given birth to a child abandons the child in a certain place to free herself of the obligation and duty of rearing and caring for the child. What crime is committed by the woman?
The crime committed is abandoning a minor under Article 276.
2. Suppose that the purpose of the woman is abandoning the child is to preserve the inheritance of her child by a former marriage, what then is the crime committed?
The crime would fall under the second paragraph of Article 347. The purpose of the woman is to cause the child to lose its civil status so that it may not be able to share in the inheritance.
3. Suppose a child, one day after his birth, was taken to and left in the midst of a lonely forest, and he was found by a hunter who took him home. What crime was committed by the person who left it in the forest?
It is attempted infanticide, as the act of the offender is an attempt against the life of the child. See US v. Capillo, et al., 30 Phil. 349.
Article 349. Usurpation of Civil Status
This crime is committed when a person represents himself to be another and assumes the filiation or the parental or conjugal rights of such another person.
Thus, where a person impersonates another and assumes the latter's right as the son of wealthy parents, the former commits a violation of this article.
The term "civil status" includes one's public station, or the rights, duties, capacities and incapacities which determine
a person to a given class. It seems that the term "civil status" includes one's profession.
Article 349. Bigamy Elements
1. Offender has been legally married;
2. The marriage has not been legally dissolved or, in case his or her spouse is absent, the absent spouse could not yet be presumed dead according to the Civil Code;
3. He contracts a second or subsequent marriage; 4. The second or subsequent marriage has all the
essential requisites for validity.
The crime of bigamy does not fall within the category of private crimes that can be prosecuted only at the instance of the offended party. The offense is committed not only against the first and second wife but also against the state. Good faith is a defense in bigamy.
Failure to exercise due diligence to ascertain the whereabouts of the first wife is bigamy through reckless imprudence.
The second marriage must have all the essential requisites for validity were it not for the existence of the first marriage.
A judicial declaration of the nullity of a marriage, that is, that the marriage was void ab initio, is now required. One convicted of bigamy may also be prosecuted for concubinage as both are distinct offenses. The first is an offense against civil status, which may be prosecuted at the instance of the state; the second is an offense against chastity, and may be prosecuted only at the instance of the offended party. The test is not whether the defendant has already been tried for the same act, but whether he has been put in jeopardy for the same offense.
One who, although not yet married before, knowingly consents to be married to one who is already married is guilty of bigamy knowing that the latter’s marriage is still valid and subsisting.
Distinction between bigamy and illegal marriage:
Bigamy is a form of illegal marriage. The offender must have a valid and subsisting marriage. Despite the fact that the marriage is still subsisting, he contracts a subsequent marriage.
Illegal marriage includes also such other marriages which are performed without complying with the requirements of law, or such premature marriages, or such marriage which was solemnized by one who is not authorized to solemnize the same.
For bigamy to be committed, the second marriage must have all the attributes of a valid marriage.
Article 350. Illegal Marriage Elements
1. Offender contracted marriage; 2. He knew at the time that –
a. The requirements of the law were not complied with; or
b. The marriage was in disregard of a legal impediment.
Marriages contracted against the provisions of laws 1. The marriage does not constitute bigamy.
2. The marriage is contracted knowing that the requirements of the law have not been complied with or in disregard of legal impediments.
3. One where the consent of the other was obtained by means of violence, intimidation or fraud. 4. If the second marriage is void because the
accused knowingly contracted it without complying with legal requirements as the marriage license, although he was previously married.
5. Marriage solemnized by a minister or priest who does not have the required authority to solemnize marriages.
Persons liable
1. A widow who is married within 301 days from the date of the death of her husband, or before having delivered if she is pregnant at the time of his death;
2. A woman who, her marriage having been annulled or dissolved, married before her delivery or before the expiration of the period of 301 days after the date of the legal separation.
The Supreme Court has already taken into account the reason why such marriage within 301 days is made criminal, that is, because of the probability that there might be a confusion regarding the paternity of the child who would be born. If this reason does not exist because the former husband is impotent, or was shown to be sterile such that the woman has had no child with him, that belief of the woman that after all there could be no confusion even if she would marry within 301 days may be taken as evidence of good faith and that would negate criminal intent.
TITLE XIII. CRIMES AGAINST HONOR