JIMENEZ VS. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

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JIMENEZ VS. REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

109 Phil 273


FACTS:
            Plaintiff Joel Jimenez filed a complaint praying of a decree annulling his marriage with Remedios Canizares. He claimed that the orifice of her genitals was too small to allow the penetration of a male organ or penis for copulation. He also claimed that the condition of her genitals existed at the time of marriage and continues to exist. The wife was summoned and served with a copy of the complaint but she did not file an answer. The court entered an order requiring defendant to submit to a physical examination by a competent lady physician to determine her physical capacity for copulation. Defendant did not submit herself to the examination and the court entered a decree annulling the marriage. The City Attorney filed a Motion for Reconsideration, among the grounds that the defendant’s impotency has not been satisfactorily established as required by law; that she had not been physically examined because she refused to be examined.

ISSUE: Whether or not the marriage may be annulled on the strength only of the lone testimony of the husband who claimed and testified that his wife is impotent.

HELD:
            The law specifically enumerates the legal grounds that must be proved to exist by indubitable evidence to annul a marriage. In the case at bar, the annulment of the marriage in question was decreed upon the sole testimony of the husband who was expected to give testimony tending or aiming at securing the annulment of his marriage he sought and seeks. Whether the wife is really impotent cannot be deemed to have been satisfactorily established because from the commencement of the proceedings until the entry of the decree she had abstained from taking part therein.
            Although her refusal to be examined or failure to appear in court show indifference on her part, yet from such attitude the presumption arising out of the suppression of evidence could not arise or be inferred because women of this country are by nature coy, bashful and shy and would not submit to a physical examination unless compelled to by competent authority.
            A physical examination in this case is not self-incriminating. She is not charged with any offense . She is not being compelled to be a witness against herself.
            “Impotency being an abnormal condition should not be presumed. The presumption is in favor of potency.” The lone testimony of the husband that his wife is physically incapable of sexual intercourse is insufficient to tear asunder the ties that have bound them together as husband and wife.
Ruling: The decree appealed from is set aside and the case remanded to the lower court for further proceedings in accordance with this decision, without pronouncement as to costs.

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