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2. Whether or not the first marriage is void and did the Respondent Dismissal from service as recommended by the Office of
commit Bigamy? the Court Administrator would be too harsh.
This Court ruled that "Filomena Abella's marriage with the respondent However, we also cannot just gloss over the fact that he was
was void ab initio under Article 80 [4] of the New Civil Code, and no remiss in attending to the needs of his children of his first
judicial decree is necessary to establish the invalidity of void marriages." marriage — children whose 9liation he did not deny. He
(Odayat vs. Amante, 77 SCRA 338 341, June 2, 1977). Now, per current neglected them and refused to support them until they came up
jurisprudence, "a marriage though void still needs . . . a judicial with this administrative charge. For such conduct, this Court
declaration of such fact" (Wiegel vs. Sempio-Diy, 143 SCRA 499, 501, would have imposed a penalty. But in view of his death prior to
August 19, 1986) before any party thereto "can marry again, otherwise,
the promulgation of this Decision, dismissal of the case is now in
the second marriage will also be void." (Sempio-Diy, Alicia V., The
order.
Family Code of the Philippines, p. 46, 1988). This was expressly provided
under Article 40 ("The absolute nullity of a previous marriage may be
invoked for purposes of remarriage on the basis solely of a 9nal judgment
declaring such previous marriage void.") of the Family Code. However,
the marriage of Judge Cantero to Nieves Ygay took place and all their
DISPOSITIVE
children were born before the promulgation of Weigel vs. Sempio-Diy
and before the effectivity of the Family Code. WHEREFORE, premises considered, this case is hereby DISMISSED.
SO ORDERED.
3. Personal Conduct of a Judge