Bigamy in the Philippines: What It Is and What to Do About It

Bigamy sits at the intersection of two bodies of law — the criminal law that punishes it and the civil law that voids the marriage it produces. People searching for answers usually fall into one of two situations: they discovered that a spouse secretly married someone else, or they entered a second marriage themselves, sometimes believing an earlier annulment had gone through when it had not. The rules are the same in both cases.

What Bigamy Is

Under Article 349 of the Revised Penal Code, bigamy is committed by any person who contracts a second or subsequent marriage before the first marriage has been legally dissolved, or before the absent spouse has been declared presumptively dead by a proper court judgment. The penalty is prision mayor — imprisonment that can run for years. The essence of the offense is marrying again while still legally married to someone else; the good faith or ignorance of the second spouse does not save the person who was already married.

Why the Second Marriage Is Void

Separately from the crime, the Family Code makes the second marriage void from the beginning: Article 35 declares void a marriage contracted by a person during the subsistence of a previous marriage. A void marriage produces no marital bond, but — and this is the trap — the law still requires a judicial declaration of nullity before a party can remarry. You cannot simply treat the second marriage as if it never happened; a court must say so, and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) record must be annotated accordingly.

The One Exception: Presumptive Death

There is a single lawful way to marry again while a prior spouse is still, in fact, alive: a judicial declaration of presumptive death under Article 41 of the Family Code. If a spouse has been absent for four consecutive years (or two years in the narrower circumstances the article describes) and the present spouse has a well-founded belief that the absent spouse is dead, the present spouse may petition the court, and a subsequent marriage contracted after that declaration is valid. Without that court declaration, remarrying is bigamy — even if everyone believes the first spouse is gone.

If You Are the Injured First Spouse

If your husband or wife married someone else while still married to you, you have both a civil and a criminal path:

• Criminal: You may file a complaint for bigamy against your spouse (and, depending on the facts and their knowledge, potentially the second spouse). Bigamy is a public offense, so the State prosecutes it, but the injured spouse is usually the complaining witness.
• Civil: The bigamous second marriage can be the subject of a petition for declaration of nullity. You may also consider the consequences for property and for any children of the void union — children of a bigamous marriage are generally illegitimate, though the law protects their right to support and inheritance from their parent.

If You Entered the Second Marriage

People sometimes discover, years later, that their earlier marriage was never validly ended — an annulment that was filed but never finished, or a foreign divorce that was never judicially recognized here. If that is your situation, the exposure is real, and the correct response is to regularize your status: obtain a declaration of nullity of the bigamous marriage, and, where the first marriage can itself be nullified or a foreign divorce recognized, pursue that as well so your civil status is finally consistent across your PSA records. Doing this proactively, with counsel, is far better than being confronted with it later.

Fixing the PSA Record

A court judgment is only half the job. Once you obtain a decision declaring the marriage void, the decree and the resulting annotation must be registered with the Local Civil Registry and the PSA so that a certificate later issued reflects the true status. Until the record is annotated, government agencies and future transactions will still show the marriage as subsisting.

Time Limits

Bigamy, like other crimes, is subject to prescription, and questions sometimes arise about when the period starts to run — often from discovery. Because the timing can be decisive, and because the civil and criminal cases interact, this is an area where early legal advice genuinely changes outcomes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is bigamy a crime in the Philippines? Yes. Under Article 349 of the Revised Penal Code, contracting a second marriage before the first is legally dissolved is bigamy, punishable by prision mayor. The second marriage is also void from the start under the Family Code.

Is the second marriage automatically void, or do I need a court case? It is void by law, but you still need a judicial declaration of nullity before anyone can remarry, and the PSA record must be annotated. You cannot simply ignore the second marriage as if it never existed.

Is there any legal way to remarry if my spouse disappeared? Yes, but only after a court declares the absent spouse presumptively dead under Article 41 of the Family Code, which generally requires four consecutive years of absence and a well-founded belief that the spouse is dead. Remarrying without that declaration is bigamy.

What happens to children of a bigamous marriage? Children of a void bigamous marriage are generally illegitimate, but they retain the right to support and to inherit from their parent. Their status and rights should be addressed together with the nullity case.

This commentary is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For guidance specific to your situation, please consult a licensed attorney.

If you are facing a bigamy problem — whether as the injured spouse or because your own status needs to be regularized — our firm can map the civil and criminal steps and protect your interests. You may reach us via Viber or WhatsApp, call us at 0995 433 5550, or send an email to vivasnobles@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you.