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Civil Case No.: 12-168168 For: Declaration of Nullity of Marriage under Art. 36 of the Family Code of the Philippines
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unemployed while he was courting Petitioner. Respondent replied that his parents always gave him an allowance for gimmicks, dates, and out-of-town trips.
5. During their dates, Petitioner observed that Respondents mother would call him every two hours and ask him where he was. Petitioner also observed that every time she went out on a date with the Respondent, he always bought his mother a bouquet of flowers before heading home. 6. Petitioner eventually committed to a relationship with
Respondent after about six (6) months of courtship when Respondent told her that he would stop courting her if she would not commit to a relationship with him. 7. About a month into the relationship, Petitioner attempted to break up with Respondent because she found out that the Respondent lied to her about looking for a job. Petitioner discovered that Respondent, since graduating from college, never sought employment. 8. Respondent later found employment in Villa Socorro Farm, a company owned by his family where his mother was the Chief Executive Officer, as an Sales Assistant. 9. Later, Respondent pleaded with the Petitioner to prove her love to him by asking her to have pre-marital sex with him and when she refused, Respondent attempted to commit suicide.
10. Fearing that Respondent would again attempt suicide, Petitioner engaged in pre-marital sex with him, resulting in her feelings of guilt and remorse. 11. Soon after this, Respondent proposed marriage to Petitioner because he sensed the feelings of constant guilt and remorse exhibited by Petitioner. 12. Petitioner and Respondent were married to each other at the Manila Cathedral on 10 January 2002 before a certain Rev. dela Cruz, as evidenced by their Certificate of Marriage dated 10 January 2002. The wedding ceremony and reception at the Manila Hotel was attended by both parties' friends and family. 13. After the marriage ceremony, the spouses returned to their respective parents' homes and lived separately since they had not yet established a conjugal home. 14. Respondent visited Petitioner in her house in North Forbes Park daily. However, Respondents mother would always call him up and ask him to go home. Respondents mother would ask their family driver to drive her to North Forbes Park to pick up her son in the wee hours of the morning. 15. In 2002, as a result of Respondent's request, Petitioner moved in to the house of Respondents' parents believing it would only be
temporary until the couple has enough money of their own to rent or purchase their own residence. 16. In the same year, the couple established an Internet caf business along Makati Avenue, Makati which was mostly funded by Respondents parents with the exception of the funds invested by the Petitioner. 17. The Internet caf business closed down about after a year due to the fact that it was not earning enough profit with Petitioner promising the Respondents' parents that they would reimburse them for the capital they gave to start the business.
Respondents' mother on the other hand told her reimbursement was not necessary because she never expected the same. 18. Sometime in 2002, since the couples savings were still insufficient to purchase a house and lot, Petitioner applied for and was employed as a Management Trainee at Hong Kong Shanghai Bank (HSBC). 19. While working at HSBC, there were times that Petitioner would come home late from work only to discover that Respondent was out of the house or with his friends. 20. Also, there were a few occasions when Respondent was unable to fetch Petitioner from HSBC as a result of the prohibition of the formers mother. In addition to this, there were several times
where Respondent would fetch Petitioner from the office with his mother. 21. In February 2003, Petitioner and Respondent were finally able to move out of Respondents' parents home. They moved to a house purchased by Respondents' mother on No. 32 Maya St., which was a block away from Respondents' parents home. 22. Respondents mother visited them every day, brought them food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Respondents mother also volunteered to pay for the house utilities. 23. Sometime in March 2003, Respondent was relieved of his position at Santiago Corporation when it was dissolved.
Respondent did not seek employment elsewhere. 24. Respondents mother began giving her son allowances to defray his personal and familial expenses. Respondents mother asked Petitioner what expenses were not being covered by her salary and even volunteered to subsidize their other household
expenses. 25. During this period of unemployment, Respondent consistently tried to convince Petitioner to move back into the home of Respondents parents, because he stayed there anyway almost the entire day since he had no work.
26. The couple moved back to Respondent's parents' house after Petitioner lost her position at HSBC when the bank experienced a bank run. 27. When the couple returned to the home of Respondents parents, Respondent constantly reminded the Petitioner that they can live off his parents who can afford to support them anyway and that Petitioner should just abandon the idea of moving into their own family home. 28. In a last ditch effort to save her marriage, the Petitioner convinced the Respondent to undergo marriage counseling sometime during the month of November 2003. 29. Petitioner brought him to Dr. Jimmy Tan, a psychologist, who not only counseled the couple until July of 2004 but also made a psychological evaluation and assessment of the Respondent at the request of the Petitioner and with the knowledge and consent of the former that his wife would receive a copy of the doctors findings. 30. The psychological evaluation and assessment issued by Dr. Tan on 21 June 2004, revealed that the Respondent is suffering from a dependent personality disorder which is serious, incurable and existing prior to the union between the two, rendering him incapable of performing the essential marital obligations, the
features of which are (1) difficulty making everyday decisions without an excessive amount of advice and reassurance from others, especially Respondents mother, (2) needs others to assume responsibility for the major areas of his life (3) has difficulty initiating work or doing things on his or her own, (4) feels uncomfortable or helpless when alone because of
exaggerated fears of being unable to care for himself or herself, (5) is unrealistically preoccupied with fears of being left to take care of himself or herself, and (6) an overwhelming lack of interest to take responsibility for his actions and his life. 31. As Petitioner could no longer bear the emotional and
psychological stress brought about by Respondents mentality and behavior, she left the home of her parents-in-law to live on her own sometime in September 2004. 32. As found even by the National Appellate Matrimonial Tribunal of the Catholic Church in a decision they released concerning the so-called union between the Petitioner and the Respondent on 9 March 2006 penned by a Fr. Rodolfo Dacanay, S.J., the Respondent manifested a simple but deep-seated aversion to performing his marital obligations as he failed to provide the Petitioner with the companionship, respect, mutual help,
same to his mother. The said decision goes on to state that the inability of the Respondent to discharge the essential obligations of marriage is grave and incurable, as the acts constituting the same are habitual, persistent, unchanging and of enduring nature.
1. Whether or not the Respondent has failed to comply with the essential marital obligations stated in Article 68 of the Family Code; 2. If the Respondent has failed to comply with the essential marital obligations stated in Article 68 of the Family Code, whether or not such failure was due to psychological incapacity which is grave, serious and incurable and existing at the time of the marriage, though only manifesting itself during the marriage.
V. WITNESSES TO BE PRESENTED
The Petitioner will present the following witnesses:
1. Eunice Cruz-Santiago will testify as to truthfulness of her allegations in the petition, particularly the breakdown of her union with Michael Santiago because of the latter's psychological incapacity. 2. Dr. Jimmy Tan will testify as to the truthfulness of his Psychological Evaluation and Assessment of Michael Santiago made on 21 June 2004. He will also testify as to how serious Michael Santiago's psychological condition is, what he believes is the root cause of such condition and how it has manifested itself in the union between Michael Santiago and Eunice CruzSantiago. 3. Corazon Ayala-Santiago, mother of Respondent, will testify as to the methods, schemes, and ways in which she helped her son before and during the marriage. She will also testify as to the nature of her relationship with her son and how the latter was brought up in order to show the root cause of Respondents psychological condition.
4. Other witnesses as may be determined to be relevant to the case during the course of trial.
WHEREFORE, premises considered, it is respectfully prayed unto this Honorable Court that the foregoing Pre-Trial Brief be duly noted.
Makati City, 12 November 2012. (SGD.) ALISON KAW Counsel for Petitioner Address: #11 Malaya St., People's Village, Makati City Contact Nos.: (054) 887-1476; 0917-449-3285 Roll No. 97871 PTR No. 024542; 1/10/09; Makati City IBP No. 007308; 12/20/09; Makati Chapter (SGD.) MATTHEW ONG Counsel for Petitioner Address: #23 Malaya St., People's Village, Makati City Contact Nos.: (054) 887-1234; 0917-468-5475 Roll No. 97963 PTR No. 0257442; 3/11/08; Makati City IBP No. 478521; 2/2/09; Makati Chapter
(SGD.) SERGIO PINLAC Counsel for Petitioner Address: #8 Malaya St., People's Village, Makati City Contact Nos.: (054) 897-3256; 0918-147-6985 Roll No. 85213 PTR No. 0285242; 5/4/08; Makati City IBP No. 478521; 5/2/09; Makati Chapter (SGD.) MARTIN UY Counsel for Petitioner Address: #35 Malaya St., People's Village, Makati City Contact Nos.: (054) 887-6978; 0917-485-5354 Roll No. 97413 PTR No. 0258712; 8/11/08; Makati City IBP No. 198621; 6/8/09; Makati Chapter (SGD.) DIANNA WILWAYCO Counsel for Petitioner Address: #16 Malaya St., People's Village, Makati City Contact Nos.: (054) 897-1785; 0916-369-8523 Roll No. 32184 PTR No. 0951242; 10/8/08; Makati City IBP No. 478521; 11/7/09; Makati Chapter Copy furnished: SAMSON MANGCO FERNANDO CRUZ GARCIA & ASSOCIATES Counsel for Respondent Address: 10/F Commerce Centre, Valero St., Salcedo Village, Makati Contact Nos.: (081) 874-1478 to 90 EXPLANATION Service of this petition is by registered mail instead of personal service because of lack of messengerial aide to make personal service. (SGD.) ALISON KAW (SGD.) MATTHEW ONG (SGD.) SERGIO PINLAC (SGD.) MARTIN UY
(SGD.) DIANNA WILWAYCO Counsels for Petitioner AFFIDAVIT OF SERVICE BY REGISTERED MAIL I, Rodel Ardales, of legal age and having been duly sworn depose and say: That I am the messenger of Attys. Kaw, Ong, Pinlac, Uy and Wilwayco, counsels for petitioner in the case entitled Cruz-Santiago v. Santiago, Civil Case No. 168168, and as such messenger I served upon the counsels of the adverse party, the petition filed in said case: By depositing the copy in the post office in sealed envelope, plainly addressed to the counsels at their office, with postage fully prepaid, and with instruction to the postmaster to return the mail to the sender after ten days if undelivered, this 12th day of November 2012, as shown by Registry No. 12345 dated 12 November 2012 of the post office of Makati City. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have signed this affidavit this 12th day of November 2012 at Makati City. (SGD.) RODEL ARDALES Affiant SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me on this 12th day of November 2012 at Makati City, affiant exhibiting to me her Driver's License No. 12345852515 which will expire on April 26, 2014. (SGD.) MICHAEL DELA CRUZ Notary Public Makati City Doc. No. _______; Page No. _______; Book No. _______; Series of 2012.