In Pulido v. People (G.R. No. 220149, 27 July 2021), the Supreme Court En Banc abandoned its earlier rulings that a judicial declaration of absolute nullity of the first, and/or second marriages cannot be raised as a defense by the accused in a criminal prosecution for bigamy.It was ruled thata judicial declaration of absolute nullity is not necessary to prove a void ab initio prior and subsequent marriages in a bigamy case. Consequently, a judicial declaration of absolute nullity of the first and/or second marriages presented by an accused in the prosecution

In Bonbon v. People (G.R. No. 272844, 24 February 2025), the Supreme Court ruled that the prescriptive period for bigamy should not be counted from the registration of the bigamous marriage but from the discovery thereof. This is because in bigamy, the second marriage is generally held in secret, which renders the discovery thereof difficult. The application of constructive notice would render the prosecution of violators of the crime impossible. Here, the bigamous marriage was celebrated in 1999 in Bukidnon, away from the first wife’s residence in Misamis Oriental. It