By virtue of
Republic Act 10655, which was signed into law on March 13, 2015, Article 351 of
the Revised Penal Code has been repealed and in effect decriminalized premature
marriage. Article 351 provides:
Art.
351. Premature marriages. — Any widow who shall marry within three hundred and
one day from the date of the death of her husband, or before having delivered
if she shall have been pregnant at the time of his death, shall be punished by
arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 500 pesos.
The
same penalties shall be imposed upon any woman whose marriage shall have been
annulled or dissolved, if she shall marry before her delivery or before the
expiration of the period of three hundred and one day after the legal
separation.
The repeal is without prejudice to the
provisions of the Family Code on paternity and filiation.
The rationale for the repeal is that it
is discriminatory among women as it curtails their right to marry under the
above-stated circumstances. The salient purpose of the prohibition under Article
351 is to impose among women a mourning period which prohibition is not imposed
among men.
