Halili v. Halili G.R. No. 165424 June 6, 2009

FACTS:

Petitioner Lester Halili filed a petition to declare his marriage to respondent Chona Santos-Halili null and void on the basis of his psychological incapacity to perform the essential obligations of marriage. He alleged that he wed respondent in civil rites thinking that it was a joke. After the ceremonies, they never lived together as husband and wife. However, they started fighting constantly a year later, at which point petitioner decided to stop seeing respondent and started dating other women. It was only upon making an inquiry that he found out that the marriage was not "fake." 

ISSUE:                                                                               

Whether or not his marriage to respondent ought to be declared null and void on the basis of his psychological incapacity.

RULINGS:                                                                

In the recent case of Te v. Yu-Te and the Republic of the Philippines, this Court reiterated that courts should interpret the provision on psychological incapacity on a case-to-case basis - guided by experience, the findings of experts and researchers in psychological disciplines and by decisions of church tribunals. 

In Te, this Court defined dependent personality disorder characterized by a pattern of dependent and submissive behavior. Such individuals usually lack self-esteem and frequently belittle their capabilities; they fear criticism and are easily hurt by others' comments. 

Dependent personality disorder usually begins in early adulthood. Individuals who have this disorder may be unable to make everyday decisions without advice or reassurance from others, may allow others to make most of their important decisions (such as where to live), tend to agree with people even when they believe they are wrong, have difficulty starting projects or doing things on their own, volunteer to do things that are demeaning in order to get approval from other people, feel uncomfortable or helpless when alone and are often preoccupied with fears of being abandoned. 

It has been sufficiently established that petitioner had a psychological condition that was grave and incurable and had a deeply rooted cause. Based on the foregoing, it has been shown that petitioner is indeed suffering from psychological incapacity that effectively renders him unable to perform the essential obligations of marriage and thus the Court declared the marriage null and void.