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Whether or not the charges against Vicenta Escaos parents were sufficient in form.
RULING:
1. No. Vicenta Escao and Pastor Tenchavez marriage remain existent and undissolved under
the Philippine Law. Escaos divorce and second marriage cannot be deemed valid under the
Philippine Law to which Escao was bound since in the time the divorce decree was issued,
Escao, like her husband, was still a Filipino citizen. The acts of the wife in not complying with
her wifely duties, deserting her husband without any justifiable cause, leaving for the United
States in order to secure a decree of absolute divorce, and finally getting married again are acts
which constitute a willful infliction of injury upon the husbands feelings in a manner contrary to
morals, good customs or public policy, thus entitling Tenchavez to a decree of legal separation
under our law on the basis of adultery.
2. No. Tenchavez charge against Vicentas parents is not supported by credible evidence. The
testimony of Tenchavez about the Escaos animosity toward him strikes the court to be merely
conjecture and exaggeration, and were belied by Tenchavez own letters written before the suit
had begun. An action for alienation of affections against the parents of one consort does not lie in
the absence of proof of malice or unworthy motives on their part.
Plaintiff Tenchavez, in falsely charging Vicenta's aged parents with racial or social
discrimination and with having exerted efforts and pressured her to seek annulment and divorce,
unquestionably caused them unrest and anxiety, entitling them to recover damages.