Civil Law

Jaaziel Salva-Roldan vs Lory Roldan

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G.R. No. 268109 – Civil Law – Persons and Family Relations – Family Code – Marriage – Void Marriages – Fraud; Concealment of Homosexuality

In 2010, Lory Roldan added Jaaziel Salva on social media. In 2011, they became online sweethearts. They were mostly separated by distance due to their jobs. In 2012, they had their first date. Jaaziel already noticed that Lory kept his distance from her and he was not that intimate. When confronted, Lory simply said he was shy and he lacked confidence. In 2013, they got married. Still, Lory avoided any intimacy with Jaaziel. Their relationship went cold. In 2015, Jaaziel discovered a bundle of magazines showing naked male models in Lory’s belongings. When confronted, Lory admitted that he is a homosexual. In 2017, Jaaziel filed a petition for the declaration of nullity of her marriage with Lory on the ground that she was defrauded into marrying Lory; that had she known that Lory was a homosexual, she would not have married him. Only Jaaziel and her witness appeared in court. The trial court denied the petition. So did the Court of Appeals.

ISSUE: Whether or not Jaaziel’s petition should be granted.

HELD: Yes. The Supreme Court gave probative weight to Jaaziel’s testimony and the testimony of her father. Jaaziel’s testimony of the behavior and characteristic of Lory was given weight. Jaaziel’s father’s testimony regarding Lory’s being somewhat effeminate or “medyo malambot” was also believed by the Supreme Court. The SC was convinced that the allegations of Jaaziel are not mere baseless perception or malicious interpretation of Lory’s peculiarities. With the lies and deception, coupled by their failure to cohabit as husband and wife, it is evident that Lory merely tricked Jaaziel to marry him by making her believe that he is a heterosexual. The admission of Lory and the unexplained prolonged silence to negate the allegation as to his homosexuality was not taken lightly by the SC. No woman would put herself in a shameful position if the fact that she married a homosexual was not true. More so, no man would keep silent when his sexuality is being questioned thus creating disgrace in his name.

Was the petition filed on time?

Yes. Jaaziel discovered the concealment in 2015. She filed her petition in 2017 which is within the 5-year prescriptive period.

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Note: The Ponente had some interesting choice of words. There was not really a strong discussion on how fraud was established. Some of the statements of Jaaziel’s father even appear to be hearsay.

Roldan vs Roldan

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