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CEBU CITY, Philippines - After learning that his marriage to an American might be considered null and void, male “bride” Lou Vincent Suarez is having second thoughts about taking action against his partner’s petition for annulment.
Suarez said he had approached a lawyer for consultation after learning of the annulment case. But while he was advised to visit the lawyer’s office so that they could discuss the case further, Suarez said he has not taken the invitation due to the statement of a Supreme Court Judge that there was no marriage in the first place.
Suarez earlier planned to fight the annulment. He said that contrary to his partner’s claims, the American knew about Suarez’ true gender before they were married.
“I really don’t know what will happen next,” Suarez said.
In an interview at GMA-7’s Balitang Bisdak last week, Supreme Court Administrator Justice Jose Perez said Suarez’s marriage to the American was void because the law does not allow union between two people of the same gender.
Under the Family Code, no marriage shall be valid unless the contracting parties are a male and a female. The absence of this requirement makes the marriage invalid from the beginning.
Suarez’ American partner returned to the United States shortly after their wedding on June 27, 2006. The American, through his lawyer in the Philippines, filed for annulment last June 6, saying he did not know that Suarez was a man until their wedding night.
Regional Trial Court Judge Raphael Yrastorza of branch 14 is handling the annulment case.
Suarez, who has undergone surgery to look like a woman, earlier said he never hid his true gender from the 50-year-old American, whom he met over the Internet.
Suarez said the American already knew he was gay before the marriage.
The marriage was handled by Judge Rosabella Tormis of the Municipal Trial Courts in Cities. Tormis went ahead with the wedding because the birth certificate that Suarez submitted indicated he was “female.”
This was a typographical error in his birth certificate, Suarez said.
He said he only knew about the American’s petition for annulment last month when he read it in the newspapers.
He said he did not deserve the humiliation that the American subjected him to.
“It would have been okay if I had fooled him, but I never did that,” Suarez said. “I leave it all up to God. I hope this will all be over soon. I'm tired of it.”
“If I were guilty, I would have gone into hiding from the very start.”
He said dealing with the issue was not easy, and that the only way he gets updates on the matter are through the Internet.
“Whenever I want to know if there are new updates, I just search my name on Google,” Suarez said.
