Short answer. Yes. The eighth ground for legal separation is sexual infidelity or perversion, and it is deliberately broader than the criminal offences of adultery and concubinage. An affair that would not support a criminal charge for adultery or concubinage can still support this petition, and the same standard applies to a husband and to a wife.
What the law says
(8) Sexual infidelity or perversion;
Family Code, Article 55 — Grounds for Legal Separation. Read the full provision →
Wider than the criminal offences
The clause says simply Sexual infidelity or perversion, and the choice of words is the point. The criminal law approaches unfaithfulness through adultery and concubinage, which are defined narrowly and, in the case of concubinage, require circumstances that many unfaithful husbands never satisfy. The family law provision is not tied to those definitions. That is why a spouse can be told there is no criminal case worth filing and still have a ground for legal separation on the same facts.
It applies to both spouses on the same terms
One line covers husband and wife alike, without the asymmetry the criminal provisions carry. This is worth stating because the asymmetry is widely assumed to run through the whole of Philippine law, and it leads people to conclude wrongly that a wife must prove far more than a husband would. For this ground she does not; the clause names a single standard and applies it to the respondent, whoever that is.
What has to be proved, and what usually is not
Courts do not expect direct evidence of the act, which is rarely available, but they do expect more than a conviction that something is going on. What carries these petitions is an accumulation: messages and call records, hotel or travel documents, money moving, photographs, admissions, and witnesses who saw the couple living as such. A single ambiguous exchange is not a case. An affair the respondent admits to, in writing or in front of others, is a different matter entirely.
Forgiveness is the trap on this ground
More petitions on infidelity are lost to the bars in the Family Code than to weak evidence. Forgiving the affair and resuming married life can be treated as condonation and defeats the petition; agreeing in advance, or arranging matters so that it could happen, is consent or connivance; and if both spouses have given ground, relief is refused to both. There is also a prescriptive period, which is why the date you found out matters as much as what you found out.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- Aiko Yokogawa-Tan vs. Jonnell Tan and the Republic of the Philippines, G.R. No. 254646, October 23, 2023 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Maria Vicia Carullo-Padua vs. Joselito Padua, G.R. No. 208258, April 27, 2022 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Arabelle J. Mendoza vs. Republic of the Philippines, et al, G.R. No. 157649, November 12, 2012 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Lucita Estrella Hernandez vs. Court of Appeals, et al, G.R. No. 126010, December 8,1999 — read the decision on LawPhil →