Converting to Islam to marry 2nd spouse is bigamy, says SC

Converting to Islam in order to marry a second spouse is bigamy, the Supreme Court said in a decision released Monday.

According to the 17-page decision penned by Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, conversion to Islam does not operate to exculpate both parties from criminal liability.

"A party to a civil marriage who converts to Islam and contracts another marriage, despite the first marriage’s subsistence, is guilty of bigamy," the decision read.

"Likewise guilty is the spouse in the subsequent marriage," it added.

The high court affirmed a Court of Appeals' decision in 2015 affirming the ruling of the Taguig Regional Trial Court in 2012 that found two individuals guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

The petitioners argued that they were Muslims and were married under Muslim Law, applying the Muslim Code.

However, the RTC said the Muslim code does not apply as the original wife is not a Muslim.

"Further, a married Muslim cannot marry another. In exceptional cases, a married Muslim man may do so if 'he can deal with them with equal companionship and just treatment as enjoined by Islamic law'," the SC said.

"The formal request of the subsequent marriage under… the Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines (Muslim Code) entails the wife's knowledge of the impending subsequent marriage," it said. —KBK, GMA News