Republic of the Philippines

Regional Trial Court

SECOND JUDICIAL REGION
BRANCH 04
(Family Court)
Tuguegarao City, Cagayan

SHERYL AGAMATA CARAG

Plaintiff, Civil Case No: 8514

-versus- FOR: “Declaration of

Nullity of Marriage”.

MICHAEL KRISTOFFER S. CARAG,

Defendants

JUDICIAL-AFFIDAVIT

I am Ethel Maureen Biscaro-Pagaddu, MD, of legal age, married,

psychiatrist by profession, and a resident of Tumauini, Isabela. The person
interrogating me is Atty. Erik O. Labuguen with office address at 2/F
Archbishop’s Centennial Building, Arellano corner Blumentritt Street,
Tuguegarao City, Cagayan. The interrogation is being held at the same
address.

I am answering his questions fully conscious that I do so under oath

and may face criminal liability for false testimony and perjury.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q1: Please state your name and other personal circumstances?

A1: I am ETHEL MAUREEN BISCARO-PAGADDU, M.D., of legal age,
married, a psychiatrist by profession and presently working at the
Department of Psychiatry of the Cagayan Valley Medical Center,
Tuguegarao City, Cagayan.

Q2: Please state to the Honorable Court where did you obtain your
degree in medicine and your endeavors, if any, in the medical
field thereafter?
A2: I obtained my degree in Doctor of Medicine at the Cagayan State
University-College of Medicine and Surgery in Tuguegarao City,
Cagayan in 2001. I finished my Post-Graduate Internship at the
Quezon City General Hospital on October 31, 2002. In February
2003, I took and passed the Physicians’ Licensure Examination.
After passing the licensure examination, I was employed as a
Resident Physician at Tumauini Community Hospital from April
2003 to February 2004 and a University Physician at St. Paul
University Philippines from July 2003 to May 2004 and at
 Cagayan Valley Medical Center from July 2004 to present, sir. In
addition, I was sent for lateral residency training at the National
Center for Mental Health in Mandaluyong City from January
2008 to January 2011, sir.

Q3: How long have you been practicing your profession as a

psychiatrist, madam witness?
A3: I had been practicing my profession since the year 2004, more or
less fifteen (15) years now, sir.

Q4: During your practice of profession have you attended seminars

and lectures, if any, in relation to the development of your
knowledge in the field of your profession, particularly as a
psychiatrist, madam witness?
A4: Yes, sir. During the practice of my profession, I attended several
conventions, seminars and lectures in relation to the
development and updating of my knowledge in my field of
specialization. The conventions I attended were twice in a year
in the Philippine Psychiatric Association (PPA), of which I am an
Associate Member. Aside from that, I also attended regular
seminars and lectures of the PPA and corporate-sponsored
symposia and round-table discussions. I am also a regular
Member of the Philippine College of Addiction Medicine (PCAM)
and do attend its annual convention, sir.

Q5: In those fifteen (15) years that you have been practicing your
profession, how many cases have you evaluated in relation to
psychological incapacity of spouses, madam witness?
A5: More or less three hundred ten (310) cases, sir.

Q6: Do you know the parties in the instant petition, Sheryl Agamata
Carag and Michael Kristoffer Samonte Carag, madam witness?
A6: Yes, sir.

Q7: Why do you know them, madam witness?

A7: I came to know them when I conducted a psychiatric evaluation
upon the request of herein petitioner.

Q8: What are your findings, madam witness, with respect to the
psychiatric status of the petitioner, Sheryl Agamata Carag?
A8: Based on the personal and collateral interviews and psychiatric
evaluation I performed on the petitioner, Sheryl Agamata Carag,
I found out that the petitioner is manifesting signs and symptoms
of a psychiatric disorder known as Passive-Aggressive Personality
Disorder, sir.

Q9: How about her husband, the respondent, Michael Kristoffer

Samonte Carag, what are your findings, if any, madam witness?
A9: Based on the history, anamnesis, phone, and collateral
interviews, and information gathered on the part of the
respondent, I found out that he is manifesting signs and
symptoms of a psychiatric disorder known as Mixed Personality
Disorder, a combination of Narcissistic and Dependent
Personality Disorders, sir.

Q10: How would you describe these personality disorders madam

witness?

A10: A Passive-Aggressive Personality Disorder is characterized by a

pervasive and maladaptive pattern of negativistic attitudes and
behaviors and passive resistance to demands for adequate
performance, sir. In the case of the petitioner, it is manifested by
passive resistance in fulfilling routine social and occupational
tasks, complains of being misunderstood and unappreciated by
others, expresses envy and resentment towards those apparently
more fortunate, sullenness and argumentativeness, voicing
exaggerated and persistent complains of personal misfortune,
and alternating between hostile defiance and contrition. This
personality disorder starts to manifest during late adolescence or
early adulthood when the petitioner establishes relationship
outside her family, sir.

On the other hand, a Narcissistic Personality Disorder is

characterized by a pervasive and maladaptive pattern of
grandiosity or behavior, need for admiration, and lack of
empathy, sir. In the case of the respondent, it is manifested by
grandiosity in self-importance; preoccupation with fantasies of
unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty or ideal love; having
a sense of entitlement; lack in empathy; interpersonal
exploitativeness and showing arrogant or haughty behaviors or
attitude, sir. Furthermore, a Dependent Personality Disorder is a
pervasive and excessive need to be taken care of that leads to
submissive and clinging behavior and fears of separation. It is
manifested by the respondent in the following ways: needs
others to assume responsibility for most major areas of his life;
has difficulty expressing disagreement with others because of
fear of loss of support or approval; feels uncomfortable or
helpless when alone because of exaggerated fears of being
unable to care for himself; goes to excessive lengths to obtain
nurturance and support from others to the point of volunteering
to do things that are unpleasant; and urgently seeks another
relationship as a source of care and support when a close
 relationship ends. Likewise, both types of personality disorder
start to manifest by late adolescence or early adulthood, sir.

Q11: In your evaluation of the life history of the petitioner and the
respondent, did you find if they were able to comply with their
marital obligation to “live together, observe mutual love, respect
and fidelity, and render mutual help and support?” Please
explain.

A11: No sir, both of them failed to comply with their marital

obligations of mutual love, respect, support, fidelity, as effected
by their respective personality disorders. In their relationship,
their personalities are not complementary, much more they do
not jive with each other. They tend to be antagonistic as each
one of them is geared towards personal interest vis-à-vis
preservation of comfort to avoid tension and anxiety. This leads
them to be self-centered and insensitive to one another. Their
personalities clash and greatly affect their marital union so much
so with the way they erratically show their love, respect, support,
and fidelity to each other. The way they perform their marital
obligations will always be influenced by their respective
personality. He failed to comply with his marital obligation
because from the start his intention was colored by his desire to
look for a substitute to his mother to maintain his dependency to
her and not to be mutually sharing to his partner. On the other
hand, her failure to comply with her marital obligation was
because she herself had not experience them from her parents
who brought her in a way that she had not exercised her
capacity to decide for herself. They were both motivated to get
them from each partner their personal needs with no such
obligations intended to give in return, sir.

Q12: Is there any causal relationship between their personality

disorders and their failure to comply with their marital
obligations?

A12: Yes, there is, sir. Their attitudes and behaviors will always come
out into their day-to-day dealings. Such impurities in their
unconscious motives bring forth misunderstanding and chaos.
This is the time their personalities cause problems and become
disorders which lead to the downfall of their marriage, sir.

Q13: Are you telling us that their failure to comply with their marital
obligations is psychologically rooted?
 A13: Yes, it is, sir. Marriage is supposed to be a give-and-take
relationship but such was absent to Michael and Sheryl for the
basic foundation of mutual love, respect, support, and fidelity
were not established even prior to their marriage, rendering
them both incapable to comply with the essential marital
obligations. The developmental fixations they had from the early
stages of their lives greatly influenced their intra and
interpersonal interactions, sir.

Q14: For how long had each been afflicted or imbued with their
respective personality disorder?

A14: The personalities manifested by the petitioner and respondent

persist throughout their lives. It started to evolve since
conception but only manifested in their late adolescence or early
adulthood wherein they started creating relationships with other
people outside their families, sir.

Q15: Can their condition be treated medically? Please explain.

A15: Their personality disorders, or any personality disorder for that

matter, can be subjected for treatment, be it through medication
or psychotherapy/counselling. However, absolute cure or
treatment for this disorder is unattainable.

Q16: Can they outgrow their personality disorders?

A16: No, they cannot, sir. They will always carry their personality
disorders with them all throughout their lives. The manifestations
may only differ depending on the nature of the persons whom
they deal with, sir.

Q17: Did you reduce your findings in writing?

A17: Yes. I have here with me the psychological evaluation report, sir.

Q18: I am marking the Psychological Evaluation Report that you

prepared as “_________”. I am attaching “___________” to your
judicial affidavit to form part of it. Do you confirm my actions?

A18: Yes, sir.

IN WITNESS HEREOF, I have hereunto set my hands this ______________ at

_____________________
 LORETO C. LATTAO JR.
Affiant
License No.:
Issued by: Philippine Regulations Commission

ATTESTATION

I, Atty. Eric O. Labuguen, with office address at 2/F Archbishop’s

Centennial Building, Arellano corner Bluementritt Streets, Tuguegarao City,
Tuguegarao City attest under oath that I personally conducted the
interrogation of the abovementioned affiant who is the plaintiff in the above-
captioned case; I faithfully recorded the questions I asked her and the
corresponding answers she gave me; and neither I nor any other person
then present coached her regarding her answers.

ERIC O. LABUGUEN
Interrogator
Roll No. 59081

Republic of the Philippines)

City of Tuguegarao) Sc.

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me this _________________________in

______________, affiants, personally appearing before me, exhibiting unto
me their competent evidence of identities as above-indicated, identified by
me as the same persons who freely and voluntarily executed their judicial
affidavit

DOC. NO. ____

PAGE NO. ____
BOOK NO. ____
SERIES OF 2019.

Copy furnished:
 EXPLANATION

Copies of the foregoing judicial affidavit were served to the respective

through registered mail due to distance and lack of manpower of the
undersigned.
Eric O. Labuguen