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Query: Five years ago, I married a woman whom I
believed would make an ideal lifetime partner. Initially, we had a
blissful married life out of which we were blessed to have a son.
However, our once sugarcoated romance turned bitter when I
discovered that my wife was having an affair with a co-worker, which
prompted me to file a case of adultery against her and her paramour.
Consequently, both were convicted of the crime charged and were
sentenced to suffer an imprisonment.
Thereafter, my unfaithful wife,
through counsel, filed a petition for declaration of nullity of
marriage, dissolution and liquidation of conjugal partnership of
gains and damages, imputing psychological incapacity on my part.
During the pre-trial of said case, my wife and I entered into a
compromise agreement relative to our properties, which compromise
agreement was given judicial imprimatur by the presiding judge.
However, I subsequently filed a motion for the repudiation of the
judgment on compromise agreement on the ground that my previous
lawyer did not intelligently and judiciously apprise me of the
consequential effects of said agreement. My motion was denied,
thereby placing me in distress.
The following questions have been
nagging me night and day—and I respectfully request for your
opinion to give me rest. First, is not the compromise agreement
contrary to morals, good customs, public order and public policy,
considering the conviction for adultery of my unfaithful wife?
Second, did not the mistake of my previous lawyer about the legal
effects of the compromise agreement invalidate the same, because it
deprived me of due process? Finally, I gathered that the presence of
the Solicitor General or his deputy is a must in cases of legal separation.
Since the Solicitor General was not present when the compromise
agreement was effected, did it not affect its validity?
Tito G.
Reply
Relative to your first question,
our answer is in the negative. Existing law and jurisprudence do not
disqualify a guilty or unfaithful spouse from sharing in conjugal
properties. The conviction of adultery does not carry the accessory
of civil interdiction. Article 34 of the Revised Penal Code provides
for the consequences of civil interdiction to wit:
“Civil interdiction shall
deprive the offender during the time of his sentence of the rights
of parental authority or guardianship either as to the person or
property of any ward of marital authority, of the right to manage
his property and of the right to dispose of such property by any act
or any conveyance inter vivos.”
Under Article 333 of the same
Code, the penalty for adultery is prision correccional in its medium
and maximum periods. Article 333 should be read with Article 43 of
the same code. The latter provides:
“The penalty of prision
correccional shall carry with it that of suspension from public
office, from the right to follow a profession or calling, and that
of perpetual special disqualification from the right of suffrage, if
the duration of said imprisonment shall exceed eighteen
months.…”
It is clear, therefore, that the
crime of adultery does not carry the accessory penalty of civil
interdiction which deprives the person of the rights to manage her
property and to dispose of such property inter vivos. As a matter of
fact, this was the subject of a recent decision by the Supreme Court
in Virgilio Maquilan v. Dita Maquilan (G.R. No.155409 prom. June 8,
2007).
Relative to you second
query—that you were not intelligently and judiciously informed by
your previous counsel of the consequential effects of the compromise
agreement—sthe same will not be of help to you. As held by the
High Tribunal in Salonga v. Court of Appeals (336 Phil. 514), the
negligence of counsel binds the client.
Finally, with respect to your
third question regarding the nonattendance of the Solicitor General
or his deputy during the proceedings, the same did not affect the
validity of the compromise agreement.
Above all things, let us reflect
on the following statement of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ:
“Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” (John
20:29).
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