A Reaction To The Case of Chi Ming Tsoi v. Court of Appeals
A Reaction To The Case of Chi Ming Tsoi v. Court of Appeals
only
after
its
solemnization.
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It was concluded that no collusion was present among the two, mainly due
to the reluctance of Chi Ming Tsoi to annul their marriage. He by then admitted to
the court that the two of them indeed have not had carnal knowledge with each
other. However, he alleged that is was her wife who was the one not wanting or
willing to do the sexual act, always making excuses and avoiding confrontations
with his so-called loving husband. She counter-alleges that she saw him at times
doing acts which could be concluded as if Mr. Tsoi is a homosexual, but this did
not push through as a relevant fact to the case.
Even the controversy of the physical condition and capability of Mr. Tsoi
was tackled, and his wife alleged him to be impotent. Despite that impotence is
always presumed in the absence of evidence to the contrary, the husband was
determined to prove just that. He subjected himself to a special medical check-up,
even up to the point of letting the doctor measure his penis and test his virility and
impotence. Regardless of the size and length of said reproductive organ, it was
concluded to still be functional and it was successful in being erect, contrary to
what the wife alleged against him. This physical incapability is mentioned in
Article 45 of the Family Code. It is considered to be a ground for annulment, and
not for the nullity of the marriage, which is clearly different. Annulment of
marriage refers to voidable marriage, while nullity, or absolute nullity, refers to
void marriages. Simple differences of this sort should always be taken note of.
Still, the main issue is the psychological incapacity of Mr. Tsoi,
specifically, his incapacity to fulfill his marital obligations in their marriage. But
since he also alleges the same to his wife, it was not clearly known which one of
the couple was really refusing to consummate the marriage. It is fortunately
irrelevant whether he or she was the person at fault, because either the husband or
the wife can invoke and initiate a proceeding to declare the nullity of their
marriage, given justifiable grounds mentioned in the Family Code. It was then
concluded by the Supreme Court that their marriage be declared void due to the
said grounds. This was because the couple lacked empathy for each other, and that
it completely contravenes what the essence of marriage is. The court made the
right decision because these two people cannot be made to agree to each other,
and given the consistent refusal of either of the two to consummate their marriage
is a very material problem especially when we talk about marriage. As Justice
Torres Jr. had said, Man has not invented a reliable compass by which to steer a
marriage in its journey over troubled waters. XXX Who is to blame when a
marriage fails?. It is indeed difficult to gauge all kinds of predicaments in
marriage, and the courts could only do so much to settle these disputes of love and
union.
RICHARD L. CHICO
LLB-1