Concubinage

Dear Atty. Kathy,

My husband, H, recently left me and our two daughters in our home because we always fought about his mistresses which he never admitted. A month after, a friend from my college days told me that he would sometimes see H visit a lady in their village, usually during the weekends or sometimes at night during the weekdays. My friend did not become suspicious about the visits, not until he saw that the lady neighbor and my husband had a newborn baby baptized after the Mass in the church near their village. My friend approached the lady neighbor to congratulate her and the latter introduced my husband as the father. My friend said I should file a case for concubinage. Do I have enough ground to file such case?

Olivia

Dear Olivia,

Article 334 of the Revised Penal Code provides:

ARTICLE 334. Concubinage. – Any husband who shall keep a mistress in the conjugal dwelling, or shall have sexual intercourse, under scandalous circumstances, with a woman who is not his wife, or shall cohabit with her in any other place, shall be punished by prision correccional in its minimum and medium periods.

The concubine shall suffer the penalty of destierro.

In this connection, the Supreme Court has enumerated the following elements that must be proven to convict a man and a woman of concubinage:

1. That the man must be married;

2. That he committed any of the following:

a. Keeping mistress in a conjugal abode;

b. Having sexual intercourse under scandalous circumstances with a woman who is not his wife;

c. Cohabiting with her in any other place.

3. That as regards the woman, she must know him to be married.

Based solely on your narration, subject to other evidence that may still be available, it appears that the first requirement for concubinage, that H is married, is present. However, it does not appear that the other requirements of cohabitation and knowledge of H’s marital status by the lady neighbor are established.

According to the Supreme Court, cohabitation in the context of concubinage is defined as the act of dwelling together “[in] the manner of husband and wife, for some period of time, as distinguished from occasional, transient interviews for unlawful intercourse.” That H was usually seen visiting the lady neighbor during the weekends or sometimes at night during the weekdays does not necessarily mean that H dwells with the lady neighbor together as husband and wife. Likewise, having a child together does not automatically prove that they were residing in the same household.

Thus, concubinage may not be proven beyond reasonable doubt under the circumstances that you provided.

(Norlie S. Silvania and May Ann Callejo versus People of the Philippines, G.R. No. 271594, 2 June 2026)

Atty. Kathy Larios