Concubinage

1.

What is concubinage?

Concubinage is committed by a married man who shall keep a mistress in the

conjugal dwelling, or shall have sexual intercourse with a woman not his wife under
scandalous circumstances or shall cohabit with her in any other place.
Any husband who shall keep a mistress in the conjugal dwelling, or shall have
sexual intercourse, under scandalous circumstances, with a woman who is not his
wife, or shall cohabit with her in any other place, shall be punished by prision
correccional in its minimum and medium periods. The concubine shall suffer the
penalty of destierro. (Article 334 of the Revised Penal Code)
2.

What are the elements of concubinage?

The elements of the crime of concubinage are:

The man must be married;
That he committed any of the following acts:
Keeping a mistress in the conjugal dwelling
Having sexual intercourse under scandalous circumstances with a woman who is not
his wife
Cohabiting with her in any other place
As regards the woman, she must know him to be married.
3.

What is a conjugal dwelling?

It is the home of the husband and wife even if the wife happens to be temporarily
absent on any account.
4.
What do you mean by scandal as used in Article 334 of the Revised Penal
Code of the Philippines?
The scandal spoken of in Article 334 consists in any reprehensible word or deed that
offends public conscience, redounds to the detriment of the feelings of honest
persons, and gives occasion to the neighbors spiritual damage or ruin.
5.

What do you mean by cohabit?

Cohabit means to dwell together, in the manner of husband and wife, for some
period of time, as distinguished from occasional transient interviews for unlawful
intercourse.

To "cohabit," according to the sense in which the word is used in a penal statute,
means dwelling together as husband and wife, or in sexual intercourse, and
comprises a continued period of time. Hence the offense is not the single act of
adultery; it is cohabiting in a state of adultery; and it may be a week, a month, a
year, or longer, but still it is one offense only. (People v. Pitoc, G.R. No. 18513, 18
September, 1922)
6.

Who are liable for the crime of concubinage?

The persons liable for the crime of concubinage are:

The married man;
The woman who knew that the man was married.
7.

Who may file the case of concubinage against the unfaithful spouse?

Only the offended spouse can file a case of concubinage against the offending
spouse.
The law specifically provides that in prosecutions for adultery and concubinage the
person who can legally file the complaint should be the offended spouse, and
nobody else. Unlike the offenses of seduction, abduction, rape and acts of
lasciviousness, no provision is made for the prosecution of the crimes of adultery
and concubinage by the parents, grandparents or guardian of the offended party.
The so-called exclusive and successive rule in the prosecution of the first four
offenses above mentioned do not apply to adultery and concubinage.
It is significant that while the State, as parens patriae, was added and vested by the
1985 Rules of Criminal Procedure with the power to initiate the criminal action for a
deceased or incapacitated victim in the aforesaid offenses of seduction, abduction,
rape and acts of lasciviousness, in default of her parents, grandparents or guardian,
such amendment did not include the crimes of adultery and concubinage. In other
words, only the offended spouse, and no other, is authorized by law to initiate the
action therefor. (Pilapil v. Ibay-Somera, G.R. No. 80116, 30 June, 1989)
8.
I discovered that my brother-in-law had been cheating on my sister who is
currently based in Spain. Can I file a crime of concubinage against him in her
behalf?
No, only the offended spouse can legally file the action for concubinage. This is
because adultery and concubinage are considered as private crimes. Thus these
crimes cannot be prosecuted except upon the complaint filed by the offended
spouse.

In your case, it is your sister who has to file a complaint for concubinage against her
husband. No one else can file the action of concubinage against the guilty spouse in
her behalf. Even parents and grandparents of the offended spouse are barred from
filing charges against the guilty spouse.
9.

What is the penalty of concubinage?

A man convicted for the crime of concubinage may face imprisonment of 2 years, 4
months and 1 day to 6 years. If the concubinage was committed because of the
abandonment by the offended spouse, the guilty spouse faces imprisonment of 6
months and 1 day to 2 years and 4 months.
Any husband who shall keep a mistress in the conjugal dwelling, or shall have
sexual intercourse, under scandalous circumstances, with a woman who is not his
wife, or shall cohabit with her in any other place, shall be punished by prision
correccional in its minimum and medium periods. The concubine shall suffer the
penalty of destierro. (Article 334 of the Revised Penal Code)
10.

What is Destierro?

Those sentenced to destierro shall be precluded from entering the place or places
designated in the sentence, or within the radius therein designated, which shall
include a distance of 25 kilometers at least, and 250 kilometers at most, from the
place designated. (Legarda v. Valdez, G.R. No. 513, 25 February, 1902)
11.
Why is the crime of concubinage punished less severely than the crime of
adultery?
This is so adultery makes it possible for the introduction of another mans blood into
the family so that the offended husband may have another mans son bearing his
name and receiving support from him.
12.
If the wife waited 10 years to file a case of concubinage against her husband
and his paramour, despite her knowledge all through the years of his affairs, will he
be charged?
No. The wifes failure to file a charge of concubinage against her husband
immediately upon her knowledge of his affairs counts as an implied condonation of
her husbands acts of infidelity.
The long period of time of over ten years that elapsed during which her husband
Juan Rivera was separated from her after 1902 and living in marital relations with
Rafaela Vitug, without its having occurred to her denounce such unlawful conduct,
although they lived in the town of Lubao, where the immoral life her husband was

leading with the defendant Vitug was public and notorious, is proof of her consent
thereto. If only in June, 1912, it occurred to her to accuse him of adultery, although
a few days later she desisted from her complaint and on the next day by common
accord they executed the agreement of separation set forth in the document at
page 44, ratified before a notary, the injured party has by such conduct
demonstrated in an indubitable manner that if before 1912 she had given her
consent to the illegal conduct of her husband. (United States v. Rivera, G.R. No.
9540, 10 September, 1914)
13.
I am a wife who knows that my husband has a lover. Will the fact that I know
hes having an affair and flaunting it in front of our community be enough to charge
him for the crime of concubinage?
Yes, your husband can be charged for the crime of concubinage. The fact that he
had been flaunting his affair in the community may count as scandalous
circumstances.
The unlawful union of a married man with a woman not his wife, when the two live
within a town and in the same house as lawful husband and wife, go together
through the streets of the town, frequent places where large crowds gather, and
commit acts in plain sight of the community without caution and with effrontery, is a
procedure that gives rises to criticism and general protest among the neighbors and
by its bad example offends the conscience and feelings of every moral person; and
when these conditions attend the conduct of a married persons it is indubitable that
his concubinage with another woman, even though she does not live in his home,
carries with it the circumstance of scandal required by the law to make his action
criminal. (United States v. Casipong, G.R. No. 6608, 05 September, 1911)
14.
I am a wife who discovered that my husband has a second family. He even
established his lover and their child in a house where they had been together for 3
years. Can I file a charge of concubinage against them notwithstanding the fact that
I plan to file a petition for nullity of marriage in the future?
Yes, you can file a charge for the crime of concubinage against your husband and
his lover. The fact that he had cohabited with a woman not his wife is an element of
concubinage.
However, the legal status of the offended spouse must be present at the time of the
filing of the criminal act. This means that you must still be married to your husband
at the time of the filing of the complaint. Annulment of your marriage prior to the
filing of the complaint of concubinage would remove the right to file an action for
concubinage.

15. I am a wife who had discovered that my husband had been having an affair for
years. Every single time that I was abroad, it seems that my husband was bringing
his paramour to our house and letting her act as the wife. She had been staying for
months at a time. Can I file a charge of concubinage against him?
Yes. You can file a charge of adultery against him. According to Art. 334 of the
Revised Penal Code, one of the elements of adultery is that a married man has been
keeping a mistress in the conjugal dwelling.
Thus, the act of your husband in letting his mistress stay in the conjugal dwelling for
months is the element necessary to establish the act of concubinage committed.
16.
I had discovered that my husband had been visiting various vacation spots
with his mistress. Can I file a charge of concubinage against him?
Yes. The acts of your husband purporting that the woman accompanying him in
various vacation spots is his wife, and staying with her for days at length, may be
termed as cohabitation with a woman who is not his wife.
Petitioner's conduct with his coaccused was not confined to isolated interviews for
unlawful intercourse. He and his coaccused dwelt together as husband and wife in
the same house in Naga, Camarines Sur, where they were seen attending shows
and dances; again, in Tiwi, Albay, they dwelt together as husband and wife in the
same house for seven days and nights where they slept together and alone in one
room. We are of the opinion and so hold that such association is sufficient to
constitute a cohabitation within the meaning of the law even disregarding proofs of
actual sexual intercourse. (Ocampo v. People, G.R. No. L-44756, 10 June, 1941)
17.
I am a wife that discovered that my husband had cheated on me several
years ago. Can I charge him with the crime of concubinage?
No. For the crime of concubinage to be established, there must be several elements
that should be present:
The guilty husband must have kept the mistress in the conjugal dwelling;
The guilty husband must have had sexual intercourse with a woman not his wife,
under scandalous circumstances;
The guilty husband must cohabit with his lover in any other place.
Thus, for the crime of concubinage to be charged against your husband, you must
prove one of the elements stated above. Mere knowledge of your husbands
transgressions is not enough to charge him with the crime of concubinage.

18.
I recently discovered that my husband was cohabiting also with our neighbor.
I already forgave him but I wish to teach her a lesson. Can I file a charge of
concubinage against the lover only?
No. You just cannot file a charge against the lover without including the guilty
spouse. For the criminal charge of concubinage to prosper, the offended spouse
must institute the crime against both the guilty parties (the guilty spouse and the
lover).
Furthermore, pardon by the offended spouse renders the filing of the charge against
the guilty parties void. The criminal charge cannot prosper if the offended party has
consented to the offense or pardoned the offenders.