Department of Justice upholds bigamy case vs Customs exec

MANILA, Philippines - A Customs official will be charged with bigamy in court.

Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera has affirmed a resolution of former justice secretary Raul Gonzalez that the case of Port of Subic Collector Marietta Zamoranos is better litigated in court, not in the DOJ, which only determines probable cause.

In a resolution last Thursday, Devanadera dismissed Zamoranos’s second motion for reconsideration on grounds that she did not raise any new issues.

“We have reviewed the evidence on record and found no cogent reason to reconsider our resolution,” read the resolution.

A second appeal is prohibited under section 13 of Department Circular No. 70, dated July 3, 2000, she added.

Devanadera affirmed the findings of Gonzalez that there was probable cause to charge Zamoranos with bigamy in court.

Gonzalez had reversed the findings of the Ozamiz City prosecutor dismissing the charges against her.

In a resolution last March 2006, Gonzalez dismissed the defense of Zamoranos that her first marriage on July 30, 1982 was just a ceremonial affair because she was earlier married in Islamic rites with the same man on May 3, 1982.

“Respondent cannot claim that her civil marriage on July 30, 1982 was nothing more than a ceremonial affair because of her previous marriage on May 3, 1982…. she has the burden of proof to show the dissolution of her July 30, 1982 marriage before she contracted the second marriage on December 20, 1989 to herein complainant,” read the resolution.

Zamoranos’s first marriage on July 30, 1982 still exists despite her divorce from her first husband, Gonzalez added.

Zamoranos said she was divorced from her first husband on Dec. 18, 1983 in accordance with Islamic law.

Her second marriage was celebrated before a regional trial court judge in Iligan City on Dec. 20, 1989, she added.

Zamoranos was accused of bigamy filed by her estranged second husband, also a Customs official.