People vs. Elias Borromeo Summary

THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. ELIAS BORROMEO, defendant-appellant.

G.R. No. L-61873 | 1984-10-31

Presumption of Marriage; Prima facie presumption that a man and a woman deporting themselves as husband and wife have entered into a lawful contract of marriage
Proof of marriage; failure to present marriage certificate is not proof that no marriage took place, as other forms of relevant evidence may take its place
Admission of the accused of the existence of marriage is a proof of the marriage, even in the absence of a marriage certificate or marriage contract
Presumption of marriage; Persons living together in apparent matrimony are presumed, in the absence of any counter presumption or evidence special to the case, to be in fact married
Presumption of marriage even without record

D E C I S I O N

RELOVA, J.:

Appeal from the decision of the then Circuit Criminal Court, Fourteenth Judicial District, Cebu-Bohol (now Regional Trial Court), finding accused Elias Borromeo guilty beyond reasonable doubt of the crime of parricide and sentencing him to suffer the penalty of reclusion perpetua, with the accessory penalties of the law; to indemnify the heirs of the deceased Susana Taborada-Borromeo, in the sum of P12,000.00, without subsidiary imprisonment in case of insolvency; and to pay the costs.

Records show that at high noon of July 3, 1981, the four-year old niece of Elias and Susana Borromeo reported to Matilde Taborada,...