SC: Children remain legitimate despite marriage nullified for psychological incapacity

DAVAO CITY (May 25)-The Supreme Court (SC) has reaffirmed that children remain legitimate even if their parents’ marriage is later declared null and void due to psychological incapacity.

In a decision penned by Associate Justice Jhosep Y. Lopez, the SC’s Second Division modified an earlier ruling by the Regional Trial Court (RTC), which had declared a child illegitimate following the annulment of her parents’ marriage.

The child was born several months before the couple got married. During their marriage, the wife endured physical, emotional, and verbal abuse. Her husband, according to court records, also battled alcohol addiction, gambling, and infidelity.

The wife eventually filed a petition to nullify the marriage, submitting evidence of abuse along with a psychological evaluation diagnosing her husband with narcissistic personality disorder. The RTC granted the petition, declaring the marriage void on psychological incapacity. However, the court also declared the child illegitimate, citing that she was born before the marriage and her birth certificate bore no annotation of legitimation.

The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) challenged the ruling, arguing that the child was legitimated by the subsequent marriage of the parents, even if her birth certificate had not been formally updated.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court affirmed the marriage was void but clarified that the child remains legitimate under the law. While a child is generally deemed illegitimate when born to a marriage later annulled, the SC emphasized that the Family Code provides exceptions—particularly in cases of psychological incapacity—regardless of whether the child was born before or during the marriage.

The Court further explained that the absence of a formal annotation on a birth certificate does not strip a child of legitimate status. “The formal requirement of annotating the legitimation is a mere administrative procedure which cannot impair substantive rights,” the ruling stated.

The Court underscored that once a child is legitimated under the Family Code, there is no legal basis to revert the status to illegitimate. Doing so, the SC said, would contradict the intent of the law to uphold the child’s best interests.

In a separate concurring opinion, Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen called for the abandonment of the term “illegitimate,” proposing instead the term “nonmarital children” to promote dignity and eliminate social stigma. “Labeling children as ‘illegitimate’ is derogatory and perpetuates discrimination,” he noted.

The Supreme Court Public Information Office released the ruling as a simplified summary of the Decision in G.R. No. 272006 (Republic of the Philippines v. Linney Jean L. Tangarorang and Ramer R. Tangarorang, February 5, 2025).