Act No. 3613

THE MARRIAGE LAW

SEC. 1. Essential requisites. Essential requisites for marriage are the legal capacity of the contracting parties and consent.

Sec. 19. Marriages performed abroad. – All marriages performed outside of the Philippine Islands in accordance with the laws in force in the country where they were performed and valid there as such, shall also be valid in these Islands.

Section 25 of the Marriage Law (Act No. 3613) provides that marriages between Mohammedans may be performed in accordance with the rites or practice of their religion, but there is no provision of law which authorizes the granting of divorces in accordance with the rites or practices of their religion. “marriages between Mohammedans may be performed in accordance with the rites or practices of their religion”

SEC. 27. Failure to comply with formal requirements. No marriage shall be declared invalid because of the absence of one or several of the formal requirements of this Act if, when it was performed, the spouses or one of them believed in good faith that the person who solemnized the marriage was actually empowered to do so, and that the marriage was perfectly legal.

SEC. 29. Illegal Marriages. – Any marriage subsequently contracted by any person during the lifetime of the first spouse of such person with any person other than such first spouse shall be illegal and void from its performance, unless:

(a) The first marriage was annulled or dissolved;
(b) The first spouse had been absent for seven consecutive years at the time of the second marriage without the spouse present having news of the absentee being alive, or the absentee being generally considered as dead and believed to be so by the spouse present at the time of contracting such subsequent marriage, the marriage so contracted being valid in either case until declared null and void by a competent court.