Criminal Action for Adultery

Factual Background: Nica and Arthur Malabanan had a whirlwind romance and got married
despite objections. Three years after the marriage, things turned sour that led to their separation.
After failing to reconcile, Arthur sued Nica for adultery when he saw the latter in a restaurant
with a guy who turns out to be her boss.

One afternoon, in the Jurilla, Arreola & Mañibo Law Office, a woman made a visit. She knocked
the door and was welcomed by Atty. Eileen Mañibo.

Atty. Mañibo: (extending one hand to the visitor) Hello! Good afternoon Mrs. Malabanan. I’m
Atty. Eileen Mañibo. Welcome to our law office. Please come in.

Nica: Good afternoon, Attorney. Thank you for accommodating me today.

Atty. Mañibo: Not a problem, ma’am. Did you have a hard time looking for our place?

Nica: Not at all, Attorney. Your office is pretty much accessible.

Atty. Mañibo: Great then! Welcome to our humble office. Please, have a sit ma’am. Would you
like some refreshments?

Nica: Yes, thank you attorney.

The lawyer and client head to the table to start their interview.
Atty. Mañibo: (Looking at the information sheet) Is this your first time going to our law office?
Mrs. Ma. Veronica Malabanan? Ms. Malabanan? How do you prefer to be called, ma’am?
Nica: You can call me Nica. And yes, it is my first time in your law office.
Atty. Mañibo: Okay, Nica. Thank you for choosing our law office. Since this is your first time
in our legal service, I’m going to tell you the process. In the contract that you will sign, it
outlines my obligations and your obligations to the contract. As you have already seen in the
contract as to the structure of our fees, we charge Three Thousand Pesos per hour. So, there are
couple of things I need to explain. First, anything that you will tell me today will be treated as
confidential and I won’t discuss anything about it outside this firm unless you give me
permission. Secondly, if I need to communicate with anyone in order to obtain information or to
anyone else about this issue, I will ask for your permission first. We normally communicate with
letter or phone calls, (showing information sheet to the client), is this your best postal address?
Phone number?
Nica: Yes. They all are.
Atty. Mañibo: And if I need to leave a message, can I leave it to that phone number or would
you rather I write you a letter until I can talk to you in person?
Nica: You can message me through that phone number.
Atty. Mañibo: Okay. So, please read through the contract and if you have any particulars or
things that you don’t understand, please feel free to call us and we can work on it later on.
Nica: Alright.
Atty. Mañibo: I just need to ask, have you sought any legal advice on this matter into other law
office before going here?
Nica: No. This is actually the first law office I am coming to.
Atty. Mañibo: Great choice! So do you have any questions or do you want me to explain
anything?
Nica: Nothing at the moment.
Atty. Mañibo: Okay so what are we going to do today is that I’m going to let you explain what
is going on and why are you here. I will ask you some questions so I can work on what the legal
issues are and we will talk about what you want to achieve and some other options that might be
available to us. The point of this interview is to have a better idea as to what the next steps will
be. So Nica, why don’t we start with you telling me why you are here and how am I be able to
help you.
Nica: Alright. I was 19 when I met Arthur. He is 2 years older than me. We had a whirlwind
romance. We got married after dating for 8 months despite my family’s objection because I was
too young at that time. Our marriage was fine during a couple of years. Arthur is an only child
and his mother died when he was only 3 years old. Basically, he grew up with his father.
However, since his dad was busy expanding their business, they did not spend much time
together and Arthur spends most of his time hanging out with his friends. Even before our
marriage, he would even stay in his friends’, Jane, house, for days without being questioned by
his father of his whereabouts.
Atty Mañibo: Do you personally know this certain Jane?
Nica: No. All I know about her is that she is my husband’s childhood friend who was in love
with him. I only saw her once during our reception.
Atty. Mañibo: Alright, please go on with your story.
Nica: So during the third year of our marriage, I got pregnant. However, I had a miscarriage.
Since then, things started to go downhill. Whenever we fight, he would always bring up my
miscarriage and puts all the blame on me. Whenever we have disagreements, he will always be
the first one to raise his voice and whenever I would explain my side, he would always walked
out on me and go to Jane’s house and hang out with their other friends, drinking most of the
time. There was even a time that it would took him a couple of days before he returned.
Atty. Mañibo: How did you feel about that, Nica?
Nica: I felt furious. I even went to Jane’s house to fetch Arthur but I saw him lying on Jane’s bed
and drunk. They were both naked.
Atty. Mañibo: What did you then?
Nica: I tried to get him up from Jane’s bed but Arthur pushed and shouted at me that he will get
home whenever he wants and I should never wait for him. My heart crushed that time. I felt so
embarrassed.
Atty. Mañibo: What happened then after that incident?
Nica: I went home and talked to Arthur’s father. I told him that I cannot stand his son anymore.
But his father begged me to stay and apologized in behalf of Arthur because he said that his son
is too immature. He said he was sorry that he was not able to give Arthur a good upbringing.
Atty. Mañibo: What did you do then?
Nica: I decided to stay because I hoped that Arthur and I can still work things out. However, a
few days after I learned that Arthur and Jane went to Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. It became the
last straw for me so I decided to return to my parent’s home.
Atty. Mañibo: Are they still in the US?
Nica: No. They returned two months after.
Atty. Mañibo: What did you do then while he was away?
Nica: I moved on with my life. I initially planned to seek help to have our marriage nullified. But
I did not have time to talk to a lawyer as I was busy with my new job and I met Andrew Castillo.
Atty. Mañibo: Who is this Andrew Castillo?
Nica: He is my superior in the office. Since I work as his secretary, I usually had go with him
during lunch or dinner meetings to take down notes.
Atty. Mañibo: Does Andrew know your marital circumstances?
Nica: Yes. However, one night, coming from a dinner meeting, I was with Andrew when I
bumped with Arthur and a heated conversation followed.
Atty. Mañibo: What happened in that conversation?
Nica: Arthur asked me why I was with Andrew. I told him he is my boss. But he insisted that
may be I was dating Andrew, imputing that I am having an affair with him.
Atty. Mañibo: What did you do then?
Nica: Since I know that there will be no point in talking to him, we just left him there. Three
days after, Arthur visited me in my home to talk to me trying to beg for my forgiveness. But my
parents told him that they can no longer accept him. Feeling embarrassed, Arthur left our home.
A week later, it was September 20, I received a copy of complaint of Adultery filed by Arthur.
What should I do Attorney?
Atty. Mañibo: Are you really decided to really end your marriage with Arthur?
Nica: Yes, attorney. I don’t really feel that I could still live with him. I can no longer stand his
lifestyle and immaturity. I cannot live with a man who cannot even support himself and who
always thinks of himself.
Atty. Mañibo: Are you in a relationship with Andrew or with anyone else right now?
Nica: None at all. I even feel bad to Andrew for being dragged to this mess.
Atty. Mañibo: If that’s the case, then there is no adultery to speak of. Because the main element
of adultery is that a married woman had a sexual intercourse with a man having carnal
knowledge with her while knowing that she is married. Since this seems to be only a malicious
prosecution, we could move for the dismissal of the case. The remedy that we could do for now
is to find ways to prove that the allegations are not true. If there are people who can testify for
you to prove that there is no affair between you and Andrew, you must bring him or her or them
to our next meeting. We could also file for concubinage as counterclaim. I will search for laws
and jurisprudence that could help us build our case. But I must forewarn you that this will not be
an easy case. Things pertaining your personal life might be opened in court.
Nica: I understand the risks attorney. I just want to prove my innocence. And hopefully later on,
release myself from this toxic relationship.
Atty. Mañibo: We will do our best to work on that. For now, I will prepare your necessary
pleadings. If there’s any information that you need to tell me, please feel free to message or give
me a call. So in a couple of days, I will be sending you a letter confirming what we have
discussed today. We will also talk about our legal options and we will sort it out. I might ask you
to come next week or so to discuss these options. So could you come see me next week?
Nica: Sure. That will be fine. Thank you Atty. Mañibo! You’ve been a great help to me.
The lawyer and client shake hands. Both stand up and Atty. Mañibo ushered Nica to the
door.
Atty. Mañibo: I’ll see you next week then. Please take care on your way home. Enjoy the rest of
your day!

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