Spouses must be capable of managing household responsibilities and caring for their children if they wish to preserve their marriage.
This reminder follows a recent Supreme Court ruling that failure to fulfill basic marital duties may constitute psychological incapacity — one of the few valid grounds for declaring a marriage void under Article 36 of the Family Code.
According to lawyers, the decision also reinforces a broader interpretation of psychological incapacity, recognizing chronic irresponsibility, emotional detachment, and persistent neglect of marital obligations as valid manifestations — not merely clinical diagnoses.
The 13-page ruling, penned by Associate Justice Samuel Gaerlan, stemmed from the case of a couple whose marriage deteriorated after having three children.
The husband alleged that his wife refused to perform household chores or care for their children, relying instead on her mother. Her emotional withdrawal escalated, culminating in repeated refusals to engage in intimacy. Eventually, she moved to a distant province for work, where the husband discovered she was having an affair.
This prompted the husband to file a petition for nullification of their marriage, citing his wife’s psychological incapacity to fulfill her marital obligations.
Initially, the Regional Trial Court (RTC) granted the petition and nullified the marriage but the Court of Appeals later reversed the decision. The husband then elevated the case to the Supreme Court.
In granting the petition, the Supreme Court held that the husband had sufficiently demonstrated that his wife’s incapacity was so grave it impaired her ability to carry out ordinary marital duties.
The Court also emphasized that the wife’s condition was incurable, citing a persistent pattern of failure to assume essential marital obligations. It further considered her extramarital affair as part of the evidence.
“In every marriage lies the vinculum juris — the juridical bond that unites the spouses in a legally and morally binding union governed by law. This vinculum juris imposes upon each spouse the essential marital obligations of mutual love, respect, fidelity, and support,” the Supreme Court said.
“Thus, in the present case, we hold that (wife’s) psychological incapacity existed prior to and during the celebration of the marriage; the vinculum juris is deemed never to have validly arisen,” it added.
No divorce option
In the Philippines, a Declaration of Nullity of Marriage remains the primary legal remedy for dissolving a union, as divorce is not legally available. As of 2025, only two countries in the world prohibit divorce: the Philippines and Vatican City.
Multiple divorce bills have been filed and debated in Congress over the years, including the latest versions in 2023 and 2024. None have succeeded.
The absence of divorce in the country is largely rooted in Catholic doctrine, which views marriage as a sacred, indissoluble union. In the Philippines, this stance is a legacy of Spanish colonial law and remains embedded in the Family Code.
In the absence of a divorce option, feuding spouses are left with four circuitous and often costly legal remedies to dissolve their union. These are:
Declaration of Nullity of Marriage (Article 36, Family Code): for marriages that were void from the start due to psychological incapacity or other legal defects;
Annulment: for marriages that were valid but can be nullified due to reasons such as lack of consent, fraud, or incapacity at the time of marriage;
Legal Separation: allows spouses to live separately and divide assets but the marriage bond remains intact — neither party can remarry; and,
Muslim Divorce which is recognized under the Code of Muslim Personal Laws for Filipino Muslims.
