Alcazar v.

Alcazar Petition to reverse decision to dismiss the annulment complaint by Veronica Alcazar FACTS Oct 11, 2000 Oct 11 - 16 Oct 16 23 Oct 23 March, 2002 Got married in Occidental Mindoro Lived with Reys parents (Mindoro) Lived in Manila but Rey wanted and lived separately Rey left the Philippines to be an OFW in Saudi. After this he never contacted Veronica ever again despite her calls and letters Rey returned to the Philippines and lived with his parents. Rey did not inform Veronica about him returning.

- Veronica filed a complaint for the annulment of the marriage on the ground that Rey is incapable of consummating their marriage. - She brought Nedy T. Tayag (Psychologist) to testify on his examination on Rey. - He is diagnosed to have a Narcissistic Personality Disorder, the rooted from childhood and is a long lasting disorder and is therefore incapacitated to properly assume and comply with the essential roles and obligations of a married man. - And that this disorder existed even prior to the marriage of Veronica and Rey - RTC denied Veronicas petition saying that not coming to live with her is not incapacity, and that the disorder alleged was not proven to have existed even prior to marriage. - CA Affirmed ISSUES: HELD: NO. ART. 45. A marriage may be annulled for any of the following causes, existing at the time of the marriage: (5) That either party was physically incapable of consummating the marriage with the other, and such incapacity continues and appears to be incurable; x x The incapacity that Art. 45 was saying is the incapacity to copulate, its the incapacity of the other party to perform and complete the act of sexual intercourse. Non-consummation of a marriage may be on the part of the husband or of the wife and may be caused by a physical or structural defect in the anatomy of one of the parties or it may be due to chronic illness and inhibitions or fears arising in whole or in part from psychophysical conditions. It may be caused by psychogenic causes, where such mental block or disturbance has the result of making the spouse physically incapable of performing the marriage act. There was no evidence of Rey being incapable to sexual intercourse. Her attorney cited the wrong article and the mistake of the attorney as a principle binds the client. What she was alleging was the things mentioned in art.36 (Mental Incapacity) For arguments sake the court still discussed that even if the attorney correctly filed under the correct article the case would still be dismissed. The complainant was still lacking in evidence to prove the incapacity. Veronica only proved that Rey did not want to live with her when he came back it is not incapacity. The burden falls upon petitioner, not just to prove that respondent suffers from a psychological disorder, but also that such psychological disorder renders him "truly incognitive of the basic marital covenants that concomitantly must be assumed and discharged by the parties to the marriage. Psychological incapacity must be more than just a "difficulty," a "refusal," or a "neglect" in the performance of some marital obligations. An unsatisfactory marriage is not a null and void marriage. W/N Rey is psychologically incapacitated from performing the essential marital obligations