Marriage certificate not in NSO files

Q: My husband found out that our marriage certificate is not on file with the National Statistics Office. He said that our marriage is therefore not valid, and that he can get married to another woman. Is my husband correct?

A: Your husband is wrong. The lack or absence of a marriage certificate (or contract) in the files of the NSO does not make your marriage invalid. The marriage certificate (or contract) is not an essential or formal requisite for the validity of a marriage under the Family Code.

The marriage certificate is a powerful documentary evidence of the existence of your marriage. Even then, however, the existence or validity of your marriage can be proven by other evidence - the marriage license, the testimony of the officiating minister and the witnesses, wedding pictures, etc.

Should your husband therefore insist on getting married again, you can charge him with bigamy under the Revised Penal Code.