Case Republic v CA Sy v CA Sevilla v Cardenas Ruling Applicable Provision The certification of due search & Article 3 inability to find record sufficiently proved the absence of license issued to Cortez and Cardenas. As custodians of public documents, civil registrars are public officers charged with the duty, inter alia, of maintaining a register book where they are required to enter all applications for marriage licenses, including the names of the applicants, the date the marriage license was issued and such other relevant data. Petitioner raised for the first Article 3 time the issue of the marriage being void for lack of marriage license at the time of its celebration. The date of the actual celebration of their marriage and the date of issuance of their marriage certificate and marriage license are different and incongruous. The court relaxed the observance of procedure rules in this case to protect and promote substantive rights of litigants. The certification to be issued by Article 3 the Local Civil Registrar must categorically state that the document does not exist in his office or the particular entry could not be found in the register despite diligent search. The certifications issued to the parties ear the statement that the Office of the Civil Registrar could not locate the existence of the license due to “loaded work” thus it can be implied that they did not exert best efforts to locate such. Moreover, the absence of the logbook is not conclusive proof of non-issuance Silverio v Republic Cosca v Palaypayon Aranes v Occiano of the marriage license. Semper praesumitor pro matrimonioAlways presume marriage A person’s sex is an essential Article 2 factor in marriage and family relations. It is a part of a person’s legal capacity and civil status. No such special law in the Philippines governing sex reassignment and its effects. To allow such will greatly alter the laws on marriage and family relations. It will allow the union of a man with another man who has undergone sex reassignment. Respondent Judge Palaypayon is Article 4 charged administratively for solemnizing a marriage without the required marriage license, not affixing his signature in the marriage contract and not furnishing the parties with the copies of the marriage contracts. The FC provides the formal requisites of marriage and absence of one of the requisites shall generally render the marriage void ab initio, while an irregularity shall not affect the validity of the marriage but the party or parties involved shall be civilly, criminally and administratively liable.