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BY GORDON GUILLERGAN
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Sunday, February 19, 2017
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“Make things happen, but don’t force things to happen. That’s how you become unhappy, by forcing things.” – Unknown
I REVISITED a very interesting case. Ilusorio v. Ilusorio-Bildner (G.R. No. 139789 July 19, 2001 and G.R. No. 139808 July 19, 2001) stated among other things “consortium” or “coverture”, which is the obligation to live together, observes mutual respect and fidelity, prompted by the spontaneous, mutual love and affection between husband and wife and cannot be enforced by any legal mandate or court order.
Under this case, the issue is whether a Writ of Habeas Corpus shall suffice to force your spouse to live and love you. This is interesting. It’s like we are seeking court intervention to fulfill what should be a consensual obligation.
Atty. Gerry Galacio noted in the Legal Updates of our Family Code that the word “love” was only mentioned twice under our Family Code. According to him, the first mention of the word is found in Title III which covers Articles 68 up to 73 on the rights and obligations of spouses. The second mention of the word “love” is in Article 220 which states the rights and duties of parents towards their un-emancipated children. Paragraph (2) of the said article states that among the duties of parents towards their children is “to give them love and affection, advice and counsel, companionship and understanding.”
Under Article 68 of the Family Code, “The husband and wife are obliged to live together, observe mutual love, respect and fidelity, and render mutual help and support.”
Since living together and observing mutual love, respect and fidelity are obligations under the law, the question is, can a wife or husband legally compel his or her spouse to come home and comply with such obligations?
Written by Justice Pardo, it focused on whether a wife may secure a writ of habeas corpus to compel her husband to live with her in conjugal bliss. According to the Court’s decision, the answer is no. Marital rights including coverture and living in conjugal dwelling may not be enforced by the extraordinary writ of habeas corpus.
The Supreme Court, as a final note in the Ilusorio decision, stated, “No court is empowered as a judicial authority to compel a husband to live with his wife. Coverture cannot be enforced by compulsion of a writ of habeas corpus carried out by sheriffs or by any other mesne process. That is a matter beyond judicial authority and is best left to the man and woman’s free choice.”
Sometimes we force things to happen according to our own time and according to our pleasing. But we must remember that there are certain things we cannot force such, as but not limited to, time and love among many others. The more we force time or love according to our favor, we may find ourselves being drowned in our own sorrow.
Allow time and love flourish under God’s perfect time./PN
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