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Malaki and Salanatin-Malaki vs. People

FRANCIS D. MALAKI AND JACQUELINE MAE A. SALANATIN-MALAKI, PETITIONERS, VS. PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, RESPONDENT.

G.R. No. 221075 | 2021-11-15

DECISION
 
LEONEN, J.:
 
A party to a civil marriage[1] who converts to Islam and contracts another marriage, despite the first marriage's subsistence, is guilty of bigamy. Likewise guilty is the spouse in the subsequent marriage. Conversion to Islam does not operate to exculpate them from criminal liability.

Further, a married Muslim cannot marry another. In exceptional cases, a married Muslim man may do so if "he can deal with them with equal companionship and just treatment as enjoined by Islamic law."[2] The formal requisites of the subsequent marriage under Presidential Decree No. 1083 or the...