Sevilla v. Cardenas, 497 SCRA 429

FACTS: Jaime O. Sevilla and Carmelita N. Cardenas were married at Manila City Hall where they executed a marriage contract. A marriage license number was indicated in the contract, which Jaime never applied for. A church ceremony was conducted on May 31, 1969 using the same license. They lived as husband and wife and later on went to Spain for Jaime‘s medical education supported by Jaime‘s parents. When in Spain their marriage turned bad since Jaime was having a hard time balancing marriage and medical studies; obsession of Jaime with Carmelita‘s knees which he would take countless pictures of, intrafemural sex between her knees which are attributed to Jaime‘s drug addiction. Their marriage became unbearable, as plaintiff physically and verbally abused her, and this led to a break up in their marriage. Jaime went to the US to get a divorce in 1981 and a judicial separation in 1983. Later, she learned that plaintiff married one Angela Garcia in 1991 in the United States. Sevilla presented 3 certifications from the Local Civil Registrar of San Juan which states that the marriage license with that number cannot be found. The parish where they were wed presented a Certified copy of a Marriage certificate dated April 11, 1994. RTC ruled that marriage is null due to lack of marriage license. CA reversed RTC‘s decision. Marriage license was probably issued but cannot be located

ISSUE: W/N the marriage is valid

HELD: Valid. Decision of the CA affirmed. The local civil registry of San Juan testified that they "failed to locate the book wherein marriage license no. 2770792 is registered," for the reason that "the employee handling is already retired." Failure to locate does not mean non-existence of the marriage license. Every intendment of the law or fact leans toward the indissolubility of marriage bonds. Always presume marriage.