porman v. pinchoto-porman
TRANSCRIPT
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REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
REGIONAL TRIAL COURT
FOURTH JUDICIAL REGION
BRANCH _____, ANTIPOLO CITY
ENRICO J. PORMAN,
Petitioner,
-versus- CIVIL CASE NO.
FOR: DECLARATION OF ABSOLUTENULLITY OF MARRIAGE
DONNA PINCHOTO-PORMAN,
Respondent.
x----------------------------------x
P E T I T I O N
PETITIONER, through the undersigned counsel, to this Honorable Court,
respectfully avers THAT:
1.
Petitioner is of legal age, a Filipino citizen, married and presently
residing at No. 214 Olive Street, Apple Village II, ValleyGolf, Antipolo City,
Province ofRizal.
2. Respondent is likewise of legal age, a Filipino citizen, married andpermanently residing at No. 217 Smith Street, Point Place, Wisconsin, USA. Her
last known address in the Philippines was at No. 231 Daang Matuwid, Pasig City,
Metro Manila, where she may be served with summons and other judicial
processes of this Honorable Court.
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3. Petitioner and respondent are husband and wife, having been marriedon May 8, 1985 in Antipolo under civil rites which were solemnized by then
Mayor Rudolfo B. Distrito as evidenced by their Marriage Contract. Copy of
which is attached with this document and as an integral part as ANNEX A.
4. Out of their marriage, petitioner and respondent begot two children,who are presently living with the responding in the United States as evidenced by
their Certificates of Live Birth. Copies of which are attached with this document
and made integral parts as ANNEXES B and C, respectively.
5. Petitioner, the second of seven children, was brought up byrespectable and conservative parents. Although petitioner looked up to his father,
the late Colonel Reginaldo R. Porman of the Philippine Navy, who was
remembered as an intelligent, soft spoken man and a simple person, petitioner
shared his feelings and emotions more with his Mother, Katrina Sirgudo-Porman.
She was known to be the disciplinarian in the family and was seen to be a stern and
strong-willed woman. She decided to be a plain housewife so that she can raise her
children rather than pursue a career in home economics.
6. Respondent, the eldest of four children, also comes from a simple butrespectable family. She was raised by a religious and strict mother, the late Mirgina
Hindigo-Pinchoto, who chose to stay at home so that she can take care of her
family and her husband. Although respondent related well with her mother, she
considered herself to be closer to her father, the late Roberto B. Pinchoto. He was a
known local furniture maker and salesman and was a good provider for his family.
7. The parties were introduced to each other sometime in April, 1980 bya classmate. Petitioner, then, was already employed with the Philippine Navy with
the rank of 2nd
Lieutenant after graduating from the Philippine Military Academy
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in 1979. On the other hand, respondent has just graduated, with the honor of
Magna Cum Laude, from St. Paul College, in Quezon City after completing the
course in Bachelor ofScience in Nursing.
8. After they were introduced, petitioner began courting respondent andby January of 1981, the two were going steady and began an intimate relationship
which they maintained and continued for three years. However, they had to be
physically separated from time to time because of petitioners assignments which
took him to different provinces in the Philippines.
9. Sometime in 1985, the parties decided to get married under civil ritesbefore respondent left for the United States. She came back to the Philippines a
year later for their church wedding which was held on December 19, 1986.
10. After the church wedding, the parties began to live together ashusband and wife, initially in Fort Del Pilar, where their first child was born.
However, this set-up only lasted for two years because petitioners assignment to
Palawan. This assignment took him away from his family until 1989.
11. After the assignment, petitioner was sent by the PhilippineGovernment to pursue and official schooling in Virginia, USA. He was later joined
by his wife and their daughter.
12. After his foreign studies, petitioner returned to the Philippines onlywith his daughter. Respondent was left behind in the USA in order to pursue a
career in nursing which petitioner agreed to. This temporary arrangement was in
order for them to acquire a house and lot to become their home. Respondent had a
better chance of earning more money at that time by working as a registered nurse
abroad, compared to petitioner, who was just starting a military career with the
Philippine Navy.
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13. The parties long separation, in addition to their psychologicalincapacity to deal with their married life, had contributed to their failed marriage
until they finally decided to separate in 2003 with no hope of reconciliation.
14. At the time of the celebration of their marriage and subsequent to it,the parties were both mentally or psychically ill to such an extent that they could
not have known the essential marital obligations of living together, observing love,
respect and fidelity and rendering mutual help and support they were assuming or,
as shown by the following circumstances, among others:
(a) Due to their constant physical separation, before and during theirmarriage, the parties never really had the chance to know each other as a
person, even if they wanted to.
(b)Petitioner thought he loved his wife when he married her, however, as per the above, he never really exerted any serious effort in getting to
know her, not only in view of their frequent separation, but also because
petitioner was so engrossed in pursuing his career path. He was obsessed
in making a difference in the military and wanted to serve his country
more than anything else than to make his marriage work.
(c) For her part and from the very beginning, respondent was focused inpursuing her career as a registered nurse in the USA. She aimed to get
rich quickly and have a comfortable life with no sign that she was going
to share her success with petitioner.
(d)Before their marriage, the parties already manifested their own self-centeredness and determination to pursue their respective goals and
objectives in life, without regard to each others feelings, dreams and
aspirations as a married partner.
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(e)Thus, after the marriage, these manifestations expressed themselves inthat the parties began to be so absorbed in themselves and in their
respective careers that it became an obsession. Little by little, because of
the distance, long periods of physical separation and absence of intimacy,
they unconsciously shut-out each other from their lives until they began
to live separate lives, independently from each other.
(f) Respondent was extremely domineering and wanted to be the center ofattention. She took advantage of her enormous physical asset in creating
a self-image of confidence and importance. She always projected that she
was in control of ever situation.
(g)Petitioner, on the other hand, as a result of his upbringing and pushed byhis training as a military officer, also wanted to impose an image of a
strong personality and superiority. But despite his strong portrayal of
himself, he found himself being dominated by respondent. Her behavior
was influenced by her own upbringing and has changed drastically since
she went to live and work in the United States, as she has displayed the
attitude of and embraced the American culture.
(h)After his visit in the United States in 1998, petitioner tried to makerespondent understand that it was important for her to change her ways,
embrace back the Filipino culture and mentality in order for their
marriage to work. However, respondent ignored his pleas. She even
became more impossible and unreasonable when they disagreed on trivial
matters. She also became totally uncontrollable and difficult to
understand.
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(i) Despite what appears to be a hopeless situation, petitioner did not giveup easily as he wanted to make their marriage work. However, all his
resolve to save such disappeared when respondent told him that she had
fallen out of love with him and could no longer pretend to be happy with
him.
15. The parties had been separated from each other since 2003 andrespondents confession that she was no longer happy with the petitioner had
made reconciliation between the parties highly improbable.
16. The root cause of the psychological incapacity of the parties to handlethe essential marital obligations is medically or clinically defined and was in
existence at the time of the celebration of their marriage.
17. Prior to the filing of the instant case, petitioner submitted himself toclinical psychological tests and assessments which were conducted by a qualified
and expert Clinical Psychologist, Felina Domindo Fez, M.A.. Dr. Fez concluded
in her Psychological Report (dated November 8, 2010) that, on the clinical point
of view, both petitioner and respondent are suffering from a severe psychological
disorder known as Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Such is mainly
characterized by grandiosity, need for administration and lack of empathy. A copy
of the report is attached to this document and made an integral part as ANNEX
D.
18. Dr. Fez also concluded in herReport that such personality aberrationof petitioner and respondent is also deemed to be serious, grave, permanent, and
chronic in proportion and is incurable by any form of clinical intervention. The
said disorder started early in the lives of the parties and had become deeply
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ingrained in their system and formed an integral part of their structure, thereby
making them inflexible, maladaptive, and functionally impaired.
19. After administering a series of tests and clinical interviews, Dr. Fezhas determined that the root cause of the psychological incapacity of petitioner to
comply with his marital obligations can be traced to the factors present in his life
was back in his formative years. This greatly affected his functioning and
adjustment as a result mainly of the upbringing he received from his parents, who
provided him with too much emotional needs, attention, and consideration. In
turn, he developed a strong tendency of getting what he wanted and wished for
without giving back the same concern to others.
20. On the other hand, Dr. Fez saw that the root cause of the respondentspsychological incapacity to handle her marital obligations has emanated from the
factors in her environment, more particularly to the familial set-up she had and the
way she was brought up by her parents. Dr. Fez saw that her parents tolerated her
in everything she was doing coupled by the lack of proper discipline over her.
This made her acquire a strong disposition and thinking that she can subject
everyone under her control and authority.
21. The psychological incapacity of both parties is characterized by juridical antecedence as it already existed even prior to the time of the
solemnization of their marriage and subsisted throughout their married life. It is
also considered to be grave and serious enough to bring about the parties evident
disability from assuming the essential obligations of marriage, as the parties
marital union was not founded on mutual love, trust, respect, and commitment.
This caused them to have a miserable life together.
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22. Based on the physical manifestations and symptoms exhibited by bothpetitioner and respondent during their marriage to each other, it is clear that they
were both mentally or psychically ill to such an extent that they could have not
known the obligations they were assuming, or knowing them, could not have
given valid assumption of such.
23. On account of the psychological incapacity of both parties to complywith the essential marital obligations of living together, observing mutual love,
respect, fidelity, rendering mutual help and support, the marriage of the parties
should be declared null and void ab initio under Article 36 of the Family Code.
24. The parties did not acquire any property during their marriage, andtheir property relations is governed by the system of absolute community
property.
P R A Y E R
WHEREFORE, premises considered, it is respectfully prayed of this
Honorable Court that after due notice and hearing, judgment be rendered:
1. Declaring the marriage of petitioner ENRICO J. PORMAN torespondent DONNA PINCHOTO-PORMAN as NULL AND VOID AB INITIO on
the ground of psychological incapacity of both parties to handle the essential
marital obligations under Article 36 of the Family Code.
2. Ordering the Civil Registrar General of Antipolo and NationalStatistics Office to delete and expunge from their respective Book of Marriages the
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entry and record of the marriage between the petitioner and respondent and other
related documents appertaining thereto.
Petitioner prays for such reliefs as may be just and equitable in the premises.
Cainta, Rizal for Antipolo City, May 29, 2011.
THE GALIT LAW OFFICE
Counsel for the petitioner#29 Justice Avenue,
Cainta, Rizal 1900
Email:[email protected]
Contact No. 6552956-59
By:
Emmanuel P. Galit
S.C. Roll of Attorneys No. 45631
IBP Lifetime Membership No. 35795
MCLE Compliance No. III
0007569, 22 March 2011