SECOND DIVISION

G.R. No. 164493 : March 10, 2010

JANE DULO,
Petitioner,

--versus—

NESTOR GARCIA; and REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES,

Respondents.

DECISION

BRION, J.:

We resolve the appeal filed by petitioner Jane Dulo from the July 14, 2004 Decision of the Court
of Appeals (CA)1 in CA-G.R. CV No. 62443, which reversed the January 29, 1999 judgment of
cЃa

the Regional Trial Court (RTC), Branch 119, Pasay City in Civil Case No. 97-1282.2 The cЃa

reversed RTC decision nullified Jane Dulo marriage with respondent Nestor Garcia on the
ground of psychological incapacity.

THE PETITION

Jane now comes to us via the present petition to challenge and seek the reversal of the
CA ruling based on the following arguments:

C 1. The Court of Appeals went beyond what the law says, as it totally disregarded the
ralaw

legal basis of the RTC in declaring the marriage null and void Tuason v. Tuason (256 SCRA
158; to be accurate, should be Tuason v. Court of Appeals) holds that "the finding of the Trial
Court as to the existence or non-existence of petitioners psychological incapacity at the time of
the marriage is final and binding on us (the Supreme Court); petitioner has not sufficiently
shown that the trial courts factual findings and evaluation of the testimonies of private
respondents witnesses vis-à-vis petitioners defenses are clearly and manifestly erroneous";

2. Article 36 of the Family Code did not define psychological incapacity; this omission
was intentional to give the courts a wider discretion to interpret the term without being shackled
by statutory parameters. Article 36 though was taken from Canon 1095 of the New Code of
Canon Law, which gives three conditions that would make a person unable to contract marriage
from mental incapacity as follows:

"1095. They are incapable of contracting marriage:

 (1) who lack the sufficient use of reason;

(2) who suffer from grave lack of discretion of judgment concerning essential
matrimonial rights and duties which are to be mutually given and accepted;

(3) who are not capable of assuming the essential obligations of matrimony due to causes
of a psychic nature. "cra|aw

The decision of the RTC, Jane claims, intelligently conforms to these criteria. The RTC,
cralaw

being clothed with discretionary functions, applied its finding of psychological incapacity based
on existing jurisprudence and the law itself which gave lower court magistrates enough latitude
to define what constitutes psychological incapacity. On the contrary, she further claims, the OSG
relied on generalities without being specific on why it is opposed to the dissolution of a marriage
that actually exists only in name.
chanroblesvirtua|awlibary

Simply stated, we face the issue of whether there is basis to nullify Jane marriage with
Nestor under Article 36 of the Family Code.

WHEREFORE, premises considered, we DENY the petition for lack of merit. We AFFIRM the
appealed Decision of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CV No. 62443. Costs against the
petitioner.

SO ORDERED.

ARTURO D. BRION
Associate Justice

WE CONCUR:

ANTONIO T. CARPIO
Associate Justice
Chairperson

MARIANO C. DEL CASTILLO ROBERTO A. ABAD

Associate Justice Associate Justice

JOSE PORTUGAL PEREZ

Associate Justice

ATTESTATION

I attest that the conclusions in the above Decision had been reached in consultation before
the case was assigned to the writer of the opinion of the Courts Division.
 ANTONIO T. CARPIO
Associate Justice
Chairperson

CERTIFICATION

Pursuant to Section 13, Article VIII of the Constitution, and the Division Chairpersons
Attestation, it is hereby certified that the conclusions in the above Decision had been reached in
consultation before the case was assigned to the writer of the opinion of the Courts Division.

REYNATO S. PUNO
Chief Justice

REMARKS: PURSUANT TO THE DECISION DATED JULY 14, 2004 RENDERED BY ARTURO D. BRION
OF THE REGIONAL TRIAL COURT(RTC), SECOND DIVISION, BRANCH 119, PASAY CITY
UNDER CIVIL XASE NO. 97-1282, THE MARRIAGE BETWEEN JANE DULO AND NESTOR
GARCIA IS HEREBY DECLARED VOID AB INITIO.

CERTIFIED CORRECT:

ELIZABETH Q. AQUINO
Clerk
11-24-04

REMARKS: PURSUANT TO THE DECISION DATED JULY 14, 2004 RENDERED BY ARTURO D. BRION
OF THE REGIONAL TRIAL COURT(RTC), SECOND DIVISION, BRANCH 119, PASAY CITY
UNDER CIVIL XASE NO. 97-1282, THE MARRIAGE BETWEEN JANE DULO AND NESTOR
GARCIA IS HEREBY DECLARED VOID AB INITIO.

CERTIFIED CORRECT:

ELIZABETH Q. AQUINO
Clerk
11-24-04

REMARKS: PURSUANT TO THE DECISION DATED JULY 14, 2004 RENDERED BY ARTURO D. BRION
OF THE REGIONAL TRIAL COURT(RTC), SECOND DIVISION, BRANCH 119, PASAY CITY
UNDER CIVIL XASE NO. 97-1282, THE MARRIAGE BETWEEN JANE DULO AND NESTOR
GARCIA IS HEREBY DECLARED VOID AB INITIO.

CERTIFIED CORRECT:
ELIZABETH Q. AQUINO
Clerk
11-24-04