Saturday, June 07, 2008 US man seeks to ‘annul’ marriage
AN AMERICAN citizen has filed for the annulment of his marriage with his Filipino partner after finding out on their wedding night that his bride, in fact, was a man.
Gerald Brainard III, of Michigan, USA, met Lou Vincent Suarez on a dating website in April 2006. The two often spent hours talking on the phone and e-mailing each other. They also saw each other through a web camera.
Two months later, Brainard flew to the Philippines and tied the knot with Suarez. The marriage ceremonies were conducted on June 27, 2006 before the Cebu City Municipal Trial Court.
It was every online dater’s dream come true—until the wedding night.
That was when Suarez confessed that he was a man.
Suarez allegedly tried to explain himself to Brainard, saying he “feels like a woman inside” and that all his friends and relatives treated him as such.
In his court petition, Brainard said that he met the news with “shock and horror.”
He then filed for the nullification of their marriage, quoting Article 2 of the Family Code, which says that no marriage shall be valid unless all the essential requisites are met. One of the requisites is the “legal capacity of contracting parties who must be a male and a female.”
The Family Code renders the marriage void if one of the requisites is missing.
Marriages “contracted through mistake of one contracting party as to the identity of the other” are also considered void from the very beginning under Article 35 of the Family Code.
Brainard told Suarez he could not be married to a man and left the Philippines immediately. He filed his petition through his lawyer, Anna Bojos, yesterday. (KAB)
