Prescriptive period

Dear Atty. Angela,

My husband is a seaman and he is mostly not living in our family home. We got married in 1992 and it was just this year that I found out through a common friend that he got married to another woman in 1999. I want to file a bigamy case against him but it has already been 26 years from the time of his second marriage and it may be too late now. Do I still have a case against my husband?

Rizalyn

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Dear Rizalyn,

Bigamy is an illegal marriage committed by contracting a second or subsequent marriage before the first marriage has been legally dissolved. Bigamy carries with it the imposable penalty of prision mayor, a crime that prescribes in 15 years. The fifteen-year prescriptive period commences to run from the day on which the crime is discovered by the offended party, the authorities, or their agents.

In the recent case of Erwin Bonbon y Tia v. People, G.R. No. 272844 (2025), the Supreme Court explained that case for bigamy must be filed within 15 years from the time the second marriage is actually discovered, not just registered. Since bigamous marriages are often kept secret, using the date of registration as the starting point for the time limit would make prosecution “almost impossible.”

Here, you were not aware of their marriage until discovery in 2025, thus even if it has been 26 years from the time of the second marriage, as the offended party, you still have a legal right to file a bigamy case.

It was explained that while the celebration of the bigamous marriage may be said to be open and made of public record by its registration, the offender is not truthful as he conceals from the officiating authority and those concerned the existence of his previous subsisting marriage. He contracts the bigamous marriage in a place where he is not known to be still a married person. It is therefore reasonable that the prescriptive period for the crime of bigamy should be counted only from the day on which the said crime was discovered.

Atty. Angela Antonio