JUANITA SISON, PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE C.A.- G.R. NO.

7037-
R
-VERSUS-
TE LAY LI, DEFENDANT-APPELANT

1. This is an appeal from a decision of the Court of First

Instance of Davao declaring the two marriages celebrated
one after another on April 28, 1949, between plaintiff Juanita
Sison and defendant Te Lay Li, null and void on the ground
that plaintiff’s consent was obtained through force and
intimidation employed upon her by her father. Plaintiff and
defendant were married in the morning of April 28, 2019
before Judge Delfin Hofileña of the Municipal Court of Davao
City, and in the afternoon of the same day were remarried in
accordance with the rites of the Republic of China before
Chinese Consul S.T. Mih in his office in Davao City.
2. Plaintiff refused to marry the defendant but was arranged by
his father, that her father whipped her as often as she
opposed the proposed marriage; that on one occasion when
her father resorted to beating because she continually
objected to marry defendant, she fell on a galvanized iron
roofing sheet, resulting in a wound on her right leg which
produced a scar six inches long, that the plaintiff run away
from their house in order to get away from her father but
succeeded in taking her home again on the promise that he
would no longer force her to marry against her will. That on
the evening of her return, her father renewed the subject of
marriage and guarded her the whole night so she could not
escape and the next morning handed her a knife, telling her
to choose between losing her life or his if she did not marry
defendant; that because of fear that her father might kill her,
plaintiff consented to marry defendant.
3. After trial, the lower court rendered judgment finding that
plaintiff’s marriage was consummated only by intimidation
and force and that plaintiff never for a moment acquiesced
to the status of a wife to the defendant, and declared the
two marriages between plaintiff and defendant null and void.
 Defendant was also ordered to return to the plaintiff the sum
of P1,200 and whatever personal belongings the latter had
left in defendant’s house. From this judgment, defendant
appeals to this court. That plaintiff’s consent to the marriage
with defendant was procured by force and intimidation
employed upon her by her father is, to our opinion, show by
clear, positive, and satisfactory evidence. Not only does this
fact appear from the uncontradicted testimony of plaintiff
and her witnesses, but it is supported even by the
declarations of defendant’s own witness.
4. In view of all the foregoing, the decision appealed from is
affirmed, with the sole modification that the amount ordered
returned to plaintiff should be P1,248.00, according to
evidence, and not P1,200.00. Costs against appellant.