G.R. No.

97336 February 19, 1993

Baksh v. Court of Appeals

FACTS:

1. On October 27, 1987, private respondent, Marilou Gonzales filed a complaint for
damages against petitioner, Gasheem Shookat Baksh, an Iranian citizen who allegedly
violated their agreement to get married. Respondent alleged that she is twenty-two (22)
years old, single, Filipino and a pretty lass of good moral character and reputation duly
respected in her community while the petitioner is an Iranian citizen residing at the
Lozano Apartments, Guilig, Dagupan City, and is an exchange student taking a medical
course at the Lyceum Northwestern Colleges in Dagupan City.
2. According to the respondent, both she and the petitioner agreed to marry after the end of
the school semester, after the latter courted and proposed to marry her. Petitioner even
visited the private respondent’s parents in Banaga, Bugallon, Pangasinan to secure their
approval for marriage. Sometime in August 20, 1987, the petitioner forced her to live
with him in the Lozano Apartments; she was a virgin before she began living with him.
Moreover, a week before the respondent filed the complaint; the petitioner’s attitude
changed towards her, has maltreated her and even threatened to kill her.
3. In a confrontation with a representative of the barangay captain of Guilig, petitioner
repudiated their marriage agreement and asked her not to live with him anymore and
claimed that he is already married to someone living in Bacolod City.
4. Respondent then prayed for judgment ordering the petitioner to pay her damages in the
amount of not less than P45,000.00, reimbursement for actual expenses amounting to
P600.00, attorney's fees and costs, and granting her such other relief and remedies as may
be just and equitable.
5. Petitioner in his Answer with Counterclaim admitted only the personal circumstances of
the parties and denied all the allegations of the respondent. Furthermore, he claimed that
he never proposed marriage to or agreed to be married with the respondent, he neither
sought the consent and approval of her parents nor forced her to live in his apartment; he
did not maltreat her, but only told her to stop coming to his place because he discovered
that she had deceived him by stealing his money and passport; and finally, no
confrontation took place with a representative of the barangay captain.
6. RTC ruled in favor of the respondent and ordered him to pay the sum of twenty thousand
(P20,000.00) pesos as moral damages, the sum of three thousand (P3,000.00) pesos as
atty's fees and two thousand (P2,000.00) pesos forlitigation expenses and to pay the costs.
7. Petitioner filed:
 An appeal to Court of Appeals and affirmed the RTC’s ruling
 Appeal for certiorari under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court
ISSUE:

Whether or not damages may be recovered for a breach of promise to marry on the basis of
Article 21 of the Civil Code of the Philippines

HELD:

YES. The Court averred that the existing rule is that a breach of promise to marry per se is not an
actionable wrong. In light of Art. 21, the Court maintained that where a man's promise to
marry is in fact the proximate cause of the acceptance of his love by a woman and his
representation to fulfill that promise thereafter becomes the proximate cause of the giving
of herself unto him in a sexual congress, proof that he had, in reality, no intention of
marrying her and that the promise was only a subtle scheme or deceptive device to entice
or inveigle her to accept him and to obtain her consent to the sexual act, could justify the
award of damages pursuant to Article 21 not because of such promise to marry but because
of the fraud and deceit behind it and the willful injury to her honor and reputation which
followed thereafter. It is essential, however, that such injury should have been committed in a
manner contrary to morals, good customs or public policy. In the case at bar, the Court found
that it was the petitioner's "fraudulent and deceptive protestations of love for and promise to
marry plaintiff that made her surrender her virtue and womanhood to him and to live with him on
the honest and sincere belief that he would keep said promise, and it was likewise these fraud
and deception on appellant's part that made plaintiff's parents agree to their daughter's living-in
with him preparatory to their supposed marriage." Basically, the private respondent surrendered
her virginity, considered a treasured possession of every single Filipina, not because of lust but
because of moral seduction. The petitioner profession of love and intention to marry the private
respondent was intended to fool, dupe, entice, beguile and deceive the poor woman into
believing that indeed, he loved her and would want her to be his life's partner for his was nothing
but pure lust which he wanted satisfied by a Filipina. The Court held that it was clear that
petitioner violated the Filipino's concept of morality and brazenly defied the traditional respect
Filipinos have for their women and found no reversible error in the challenged decision hence
the petition is DENIED with costs against petitioner.