Marrying again before judicial declaration of nullity of the first marriage is bigamy

The crime of bigamy is committed when:

• the offender has been legally married; and
• the marriage has not been legally dissolved or, in case his or her spouse is absent, the absent spouse could not yet be presumed dead according to the Civil Code; and
• he contracts a second or subsequent marriage; and
• the second or subsequent marriage has all the essential requisites for validity.

In a recent ruling of the Supreme Court (see Teves v. People, G.R. No. 188775, 24 August 2011), the judicial declaration of annulment of marriage should occur before the second marriage. It does not matter whether the criminal case was filed after the issuance of the annulment order. The reckoning point is the date the second marriage is celebrated. If on such date the first marriage is subsisting and has not been judicially annulled, then the crime of bigamy is committed.

Otherwise, a person who commits bigamy can simply evade prosecution by immediately filing a petition of the declaration of nullity of his earlier marriage and hope that a favorable decision is rendered therein before anyone institutes a complaint against him.