Facts: 

 On March 1938, Godofredo Buccat and Luida Mangonon de Buccat first met. They became engaged September of the same year and by November, they got married. However, after 89 days of their marriage, Luida gave birth to a son. After knowing this, Godofredo left Luida and never returned. On March 1939, he filed for an annulment of their marriage on the grounds that when he agreed to married Luida, she assured him that she was a virgin. The trial court ruled in favor of Luida.


Issue: 

Should the annulment for Godofredo Buccat’s marriage be granted on the grounds that Luida concealed her pregnancy before the marriage?  


Held:

No. Clear and authentic proof is needed in order to nullify a marriage, a sacred institution in which the State is interested and where society rests. In this case, the court did not find any proof that there was concealment of pregnancy constituting fraud as a ground for annulment. It was unlikely that Godofredo, a first-year law student, did not suspect anything about Luida’s condition considering that she was in an advanced stage of pregnancy (highly developed physical manifestation, ie. enlarged stomach ) when they got married. (Buccat vs. Mangonon de Buccat, G.R. No. 47101, April 25, 1941)