Republic v. CA, 236 SCRA 257

FACTS: Angelina M. Castro and Edwin F. Cardenas were married in a civil ceremony without the knowledge of Castro's parents. Defendant Cardenas personally attended the procuring of the documents required for the celebration of the marriage, including the procurement of the marriage license. After the marriage, they did not live together since their marriage was unknown to Castro’s parents. They only decided to live together when Castro discovered she was pregnant. The cohabitation lasted only for four months and the couple parted ways. When Castro was fixing her marital status before leaving for the U.S., shediscovered that there was no marriage license issued to Cardenas prior to the celebration of their marriage. She then filed for a declaration of nullity of her marriage on the ground of lack of marriage license. As evidence, she presented a certification stating that their marriage license could not be located. The trial court denied the petition holding that the certification was inadequate to establish the alleged non-issuance of a marriage license prior to the celebration of the marriage between the parties. RTC ruled that the "inability of the certifying official to locate the marriage license is not conclusive to show that there was no marriage license issued.” On appeal, the decision of the trial court was reversed.

ISSUE: W/N the marriage is valid.

HELD: Marriage was solemnized on June 24, 1970. Hence, the law governing controlling that time was the New Civil Code. NCC provides that no marriage license shall be solemnized without a marriage license. It is an essential requirement, hence, it’s absence would render the marriage void ab initio.