Ignacio Sancho Gargallo Francisco Javier Orduña Moreno

separately a sworn application for such license with the proper local civil registrar which shall specify the following:

1) Full name of the contracting parties; 2) Place of birth;

3) Age and date of birth; 4) Civil status;

5) If previously married, how, when and where the previous marriage was dissolved or annulled;

6) Present residence and citizenship;

7) Degree of relationship of the contracting parties;

8) Full name, residence and citizenship of the father;

9) Full name, residence and citizenship of the mother; and

10) Full name, residence and citizenship of the guardian or person having charge, in case the contracting parties has neither father nor mother and is under the age of twenty-one years.

The applicants, their parents or guardians shall not be required to exhibit their residence certifi cate in any formality in connection with the securing of the marriage license. (59a)

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PURPOSE OF DOCUMENTARY REQUIREMENTS. It is the concern of the state to make marriages the secure and stable institution they should be (Kilburn v. Kilburn, 89 Cal. 46). In this regard, proper documents must be maintained to serve as proofs for their existence. Mainly, the task of seeing to it that these documentary proofs are accomplished is addressed to the local civil registrar to secure publicity (State v. Walker, 36 Kan. 297, 59 Am. Rep. 556), and to require a record to be made of marriages contracted (State v. Walker, 36 Kan. 297, 59 Am. Rep. 556). It is also the purpose of these statutes to discourage deception and seduction, prevent illicit intercourse under the guise of matrimony, and relieve from doubt the status of parties who live together as man and wife (State v. Walker, 36 Kan. 297, 59 Am. Rep. 556), by providing competent evidence of the marriage (Reeves v. Reeves, 15 Okla. 240). The record required to be made also furnishes evidence of the status and legitimacy of the offspring of the marriage (State v. Walker, 36 Kan 297, 59 Am. Rep. 556).

MARRIAGE APPLICATION. A marriage application can be obtained by anybody. Once it is signed and sworn to by the parties and thereafter fi led, the local civil registrar has no choice but to accept the application and process the same up to the time of the issuance of the marriage license. If the local civil registrar has knowledge of some legal impediment, he or she cannot discontinue processing the application. He must only note down the legal impediments in the application and thereafter issue the marriage license unless otherwise stopped by the court (Article 18).

Article 12. The local civil registrar, upon re- ceiving such application, shall require the presen- tation of the original birth certifi cates or, in default thereof, the baptismal certifi cates of the contract- ing parties or copies of such document duly attest- ed by the persons having custody of the original. These certifi cates or certifi ed copies of the docu- ments required by this article need not be sworn to and shall be exempt from the documentary stamp tax. The signature and offi cial title of the person is- suing the certifi cate shall be suffi cient proof of its authenticity.

If either of the contracting parties is unable to produce his birth or baptismal certifi cate or a cer- tifi ed copy of either because of the destruction or

loss of the original, or if it is shown by an affi davit of such party or of any other person that such birth or baptismal certifi cate has not yet been received though the same has been required of the person having custody thereof at least fi fteen days prior to the date of the application, such party may furnish in lieu thereof his current residence certifi cate or an instrument drawn up and sworn to before the local civil registrar concerned or any public offi - cial authorized to administer oaths. Such instru- ment shall contain the sworn declaration of two witnesses of lawful age, setting forth the full name, residence and citizenship of such contracting par- ty and of his or her parents, if known, and the place and date of birth of such party. The nearest of kin of the contracting parties shall be preferred as wit- nesses, or, in their default, persons of good reputa- tion in the province or the locality.

The presentation of the birth or baptismal certifi cate shall not be required if the parents of the contracting parties appear personally before the local civil registrar concerned and swear to the correctness of the lawful age of said parties, as stated in the application, or when the local civil registrar shall, by merely looking at the applicants upon their personally appearing before him, be convinced that either or both of them have the required age. (60a)

Article 13. In case either of the contracting parties has been previously married, the applicant shall be required to furnish, instead of the birth or baptismal certifi cate required in the last preceding article, the death certifi cate of the deceased spouse or the judicial decree of the absolute divorce, or the judicial decree of annulment or declaration of nullity of his or her previous marriage. In case the death certifi cate cannot be secured, the party shall make an affi davit setting forth this circumstance and his or her actual status and the name and date of death of the deceased spouse. (61a)

Article 14. In case either or both of the con- tracting parties, not having been emancipated by

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a previous marriage, are between the ages of eigh- teen and twenty-one, they shall, in addition to the requirements of the preceding articles, exhibit to the local civil registrar, the consent to their mar- riage of their father, mother, surviving parent or guardian, or persons having legal charge of them, in the order mentioned. Such consent shall be manifested in writing by the interested party who personally appears before the proper local civil registrar, or in the form of an affi davit made in the presence of two witnesses and attested before any offi cial authorized by law to administer oaths. The personal manifestation shall be recorded in both applications for marriage license, and the affi davit, if one is executed instead, shall be attached to said application. (61a)

NO EMANCIPATION BY MARRIAGE. There is no more emancipation by marriage under the Family Code. Emancipation is attained if the child reaches the age of 18 years (Article 234, as amended by Republic Act No. 6809).

PARENTAL CONSENT. The law requires also that if any of the contracting parties, not being emancipated by a previous marriage, is at least 18 years old but above and below 21 years of age, the consent of the father, mother, surviving parent, or guardian, or persons having legal charge of them, in the order mentioned, must be obtained before a marriage license can be issued to the contracting parties. However, considering that Article 236 of the Family Code, as amended by Republic Act No. 6809, provides that emancipation takes place when a person reaches the age of majority which is 18 years, a person under the present law who wishes to get married must necessarily be 18 years of age and emancipated. This is so because the marrying age and the age of majority are both 18 years. The reference, therefore, in Article 14 of the Family Code to contracting parties “not having been emancipated by a previous marriage” has been accordingly repealed and is now of no legal consequence. Nevertheless, the contracting parties between 18 years old and above but below 21 years of age must still obtain the consent of the parents as this is required under the second paragraph of Article 236 of the Family Code. Non-compliance with this requirement, however, does not make the marriage invalid or void but merely annullable which means that the marriage is valid Arts. 12-14

until annulled. It is well-settled that the effect of statutes forbidding the issuance of marriage licenses without such consent is not to render such marriages void when solemnized without the required consent, the statute being regarded as directory only, in the absence of any provision declaring such marriages absolutely void (18 RCL 442, citing Browning vs. Browning, 89 Kan. 98).

Parental consent required of parties between the ages of 18 and above but below 21 does not add anything to the legal capacity of the said contracting parties as the law itself declares that people 18 years and above can legally and validly contract marriage. The required parental consent provision simply means that the said contracting parties “may not be licensed to marry upon their own consent alone, but that the consent of their parents must be added thereto; lack of such consent, however, does not affect the validity of a marriage, but only subjects those who have neglected to acquire it to the penalties of the law’’ (Cushman v. Cushman, 80 Was. 615).

Preference is given to the father to give consent. If he cannot give consent, the mother, surviving parent or guardian or persons having legal charge of them in the order mentioned shall give the consent. It must be remembered, however, that if any of the contracting parties is below 18 years of age, the marriage is void regardless of the existence or non-existence of the consent of the parents. The age of consent of the contracting parties is the age at which persons are considered in law to be capable of entering into the marriage relation. It is to be distinguished from the age below 18 in which the consent of the parents or guardian may be required by marriage. In this respect, parental consent may be considered as one of the statutory requirements for marriage, not owing to the capacity of the parties, but only to the formalities of a lawful marriage under the statute (52 Am. Jur. 2d footnote 18, citing Needam v. Needam, 183 Va. 681, 33 SE 2d 268; Cushman v. Cushman, 80 Was. 615, 142 P 26). It must be noted, however, that in the Family Code, parental consent is needed in relation to the procurement of a formal requisite, namely, a valid marriage license (Article 14) and, therefore, the absence of such parental consent should only be considered as an irregularity in a formal requirement which, pursuant to Article 4 of the Family Code, should not affect the validity of a marriage. However, under Article 45(1) of the Family Code, absence of the required parental consent makes the marriage annullable which means that it is valid up to the time it is judicially terminated. In this sense, the legal effect of the non-procurement of parental consent, though dealing with a formal requisite of a valid

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marriage license, is the same as in the case where there is a defect in an essential requirement. In both instances, the marriage shall be voidable or annullable under Article 45 of the Family Code.

Article 15. Any contracting party between