Gregorio Nolasco filed before the Regional Trial Court of Antique a petition for the declarationof the presumptive death of his wife Janet Monica Parker, invoking Article 41 of the Family Code. The Republic of the Philippines opposed the petition through the Provincial Prosecutor of Antique who had been deputized to assist the Solicitor General in the case. During trial, Nolasco testified that he was seaman and that he had first met Parker, a British subject, in a bar in England during one of his ship’s port calls. From that chance meeting onwards, Parker lived with Nolasco on his ship for six months until they returned to Nolasco’s hometown of San Jose, Antique in 1980 after his seaman’s contract expired. On January 1982, NOlasco married Parker in San Jose, Antique. After the marriage celebration, Nolasco obtained another employment as a seaman and left his wife with his parents in Antique. Sometime in 1983, while working overseas, Nolasco received a letter from his mother informing him that Parker had left Antique. Nolasco claimed he asked permission to leave the ship and return home to look for his wife. He testified that his efforts to look for her whenever their ship docked in England were fruitless, that the letters he sent to Parker’s address in England were all returned to him, and that their friends received no news from Parker. He testified that he had no knowledge of her family background even after the marriage and did not report the disappearance to the authorities. The petition was granted by lower court and was also affirmed by the appellate court. As such, the republic appealed to the SC.
Issue
Whether or not Nolasco has a well-founded belief that his wife is already dead.
Held
Held
The respondent failed to establish that he had the well-founded belief required by law that his absent wife was already dead that would sustain the issuance of a court order declaring Janet Monica Parker presumptively dead. In the case at bar, the Court considers that the investigation allegedly conducted by respondent in his attempt to ascertain Janet Monica Parker's whereabouts is too sketchy to form the basis of a reasonable or well-founded belief that she was already dead. When he arrived in San Jose, Antique after learning of Janet Monica's departure, instead of seeking the help of local authorities or of the British Embassy, he secured another seaman's contract and went to London, a vast city of many millions of inhabitants, to look for her there. The Court also views respondent's claim that Janet Monica declined to give any information as to her personal background even after she had married respondent 17 too convenient an excuse to justify his failure to locate her. The same can be said of the loss of the alleged letters respondent had sent to his wife which respondent claims were all returned to him. Respondent said he had lost these returned letters, under unspecified circumstances.