Petition of Nullity of marriage

Hi Atty,

I filed a petition of Nullity of marriage, grounds are the ff: Absence of a marriage license & no actual ceremony took place. But we got a MC registered in NSO, it was filed in Pasig City, we both reside in Valenzuela City. A year after, we had a church wedding, still we did not secure a license and we just use the MC. My lawyer infact is so confident that we will win the case, but unfortunately the RTC court of Val denies the petition.

The decision was under the principle that he comes to court w/ clean hands, I as the petitioner cannot pretend that I was not responsible to the marriage w/c I insist took place w/o the requisite of a license or ceremony. And also bcz I admitted that I signed the MC coz I was inlove w/ my ex (at that time yes).. The judge also said that the church wedding is a confirmatory of our civil marriage, thereby cleansing whatever irregularity by the MC.

Atty, kindly enlighten me if the decision of the court of Val is really true that my grounds does not validate my petition? My ex and I are both seperated for 3yrs now and we both want to move on. Is it still worth to file a MR or an appeal? What next steps should I do?

this matter is best discussed with your own lawyer, but i'll just treat it from an academic standpoint.

how was the absence of a marriage license justified in the he marriage certificate, that you executed an affidavit stating that you lived together for 5 years? or a marriage license number was just placed but one never existed?

the doctrine of clean hands was applied in the case of Alcantara but in that case, there was a marriage license. i do not believe that it should be applied when there was never one in the first place.

the absence of a license is fatal, and cannot be cleansed by the mere celebration of the marriage.

Thank you sir very much for your reply. My apology if I did not elaborate my case well, but to ans your query, no we did not lived together for 5 yrs. Our MC stated that we do not need a license coz of article 34 but during my hearing I stated that it was not true and it was also stated in my memorandum. Still, the judge denies my petition declaring that the date in our MC is valid.
Sir, my lawyer says that we file appeal rather MR coz the judge might not change her decision anymore. My question is, if its really right to file appeal directly rather than MR? what are the pros and cons? and last does my grounds really stand a chance that my petition would be granted? kindly help.

Thanks,
MJ