A Philippine legal article on the crime, its elements, punishments, procedure, proof, defenses, and related remedies.

1) What “Concubinage” Means in Philippine Criminal Law

In the Philippines, concubinage is a crime under the Revised Penal Code (RPC). It is a form of marital infidelity attributed to the husband (as distinct from adultery, which is the parallel offense attributed to the wife under the same Code).

Concubinage is not simply “having a girlfriend” while married. The law punishes concubinage only when the husband’s infidelity takes one of several specific forms defined by the RPC.

2) Legal Basis and Definition (Revised Penal Code)

Concubinage is defined and punished in Article 334 of the Revised Penal Code. Under this provision, a married man commits concubinage if he does any of the following:

Keeps a mistress in the conjugal dwelling; or
Has sexual intercourse with a woman under scandalous circumstances; or
Cohabits with a woman in any other place.

The law also punishes the woman involved (commonly described as the “concubine”) under certain penalties.

3) The Penalties for Concubinage

A) Penalty for the Husband (the married man)

Under Article 334, the husband is punished by:

Prisión correccional in its minimum and medium periods.

Prisión correccional is a correctional penalty with a duration of 6 months and 1 day up to 6 years. When the law specifies minimum and medium periods, that points to a range roughly within the lower-to-middle part of that span (the precise duration imposed depends on rules on penalties, mitigating/aggravating circumstances, and other sentencing rules under the RPC).

B) Penalty for the Woman (the concubine)

The woman is punished by:

Destierro.

Destierro is a penalty of banishment: the person is ordered to stay away from a specified place (often the offended spouse’s residence and/or certain geographic limits) for the duration set by the court. It is not imprisonment, but it is a criminal penalty enforced by court order.

C) Why the penalties differ from adultery

The RPC sets up two distinct crimes—adultery and concubinage—with different elements and different penalties. In practice:

Adultery penalizes the wife and her sexual partner more directly upon proof of intercourse.
Concubinage requires proof of one of the additional circumstances (mistress in the conjugal dwelling, scandalous circumstances, or cohabitation elsewhere), and the woman’s penalty is destierro rather than prison.

This difference has long been criticized as unequal and archaic, but it remains part of the RPC unless changed by legislation or struck down.

4) Elements of Concubinage (What the Prosecution Must Prove)

To convict, the prosecution generally must establish:

The man is legally married at the time of the acts; and
He committed any one of the three punishable modes:

Mode 1: Keeping a mistress in the conjugal dwelling

Key points:

The conjugal dwelling is the home of the spouses.
“Keeping” suggests more than a fleeting visit; it implies the mistress is maintained there (or treated as present there in a way that violates the marital home).

Mode 2: Sexual intercourse under “scandalous circumstances”

Key points:

Sexual intercourse must be shown, plus that it happened in a manner that is scandalous—i.e., offensive to decency, openly disgraceful, or likely to cause public outrage or notoriety.
Not every secret affair qualifies; the “scandalous circumstances” requirement is a higher bar.

Mode 3: Cohabiting with the woman in any other place

Key points:

Cohabitation generally means living together as if husband and wife—more than occasional meetups.
“Any other place” refers to living together outside the conjugal dwelling.

Important: Proving mere suspicion, flirtation, messaging, or a single incident without the required statutory circumstances is often not enough for concubinage.

5) Who Can File and How the Case Starts

Concubinage is treated as a private crime in the sense that it generally cannot proceed like an ordinary public prosecution initiated by anyone. As a rule:

The case is initiated by a complaint filed by the offended spouse (the wife).
The complaint typically must be made in a manner required by criminal procedure (commonly through a sworn complaint that triggers investigation/prosecution).

Required inclusion of both offenders

A defining feature of adultery/concubinage prosecutions is that, as a rule, the offended spouse must proceed against both the husband and the woman involved, if both are alive and within reach of the court—because the law views the offense as involving both participants.

6) Pardon, Consent, and Other Bars to Prosecution

Concubinage and adultery are unusual because personal relationships and the offended spouse’s actions can block or defeat a prosecution.

Common legal concepts that may bar or weaken a case include:

Pardon/condonation by the offended spouse (express or implied, depending on circumstances).
Consent to the relationship.
Acts suggesting forgiveness that legally amount to a bar (this can be intensely fact-specific).

Because these issues can turn on conduct and timing, they are often heavily litigated.

7) Evidence: What Usually Matters (and What Often Isn’t Enough)

Concubinage cases rise or fall on proof of the required mode.

Evidence that may support the elements

Proof of marriage (marriage certificate).
Proof of living arrangement (leases, utilities, barangay certifications, admissions, witness testimony, surveillance consistent with legal rules).
Proof the woman is kept in the conjugal dwelling (witness accounts, documents, credible testimony).
Proof of cohabitation (neighbors’ testimony, consistent overnight residence, shared address, shared household indicators).
Proof of scandalous circumstances (public notoriety, open display, circumstances showing public offense, etc.).

Evidence that is commonly insufficient by itself

Rumors, jealousy, or anonymous tips.
Purely private communications without stronger corroboration (texts, chats) that show closeness but not the statutory mode.
Proof of an affair without proof of conjugal dwelling/scandalous circumstances/cohabitation.

8) Venue and Where the Case Is Filed

Criminal cases are generally filed where the crime (or its essential elements) occurred. For concubinage, that might be:

Where the conjugal dwelling is located (if Mode 1), or
Where scandalous intercourse occurred (if Mode 2), or
Where the couple cohabited (if Mode 3).

A preliminary investigation may be required depending on the imposable penalty and procedural rules.

9) Prescription (Time Limits)

Under the RPC’s prescription rules, the time within which concubinage can be prosecuted depends on the classification of the penalty attached to the offense. Concubinage’s principal penalty for the husband is prisión correccional, which is a correctional penalty. Crimes punishable by correctional penalties generally prescribe in a longer period than minor offenses (often discussed in practice as around a decade, subject to how the law is applied to specific facts and interruption rules).

Because prescription can be interrupted by the filing of complaints and other procedural acts, the exact computation can be technical.

10) How Concubinage Interacts with Family Law (Civil Cases)

Even when a concubinage prosecution is difficult, marital infidelity can have major consequences in civil/family law, including:

A) Legal separation

Under the Family Code, sexual infidelity is a recognized ground for legal separation. Legal separation does not dissolve the marriage bond, but it can:

allow spouses to live separately,
affect property relations,
and support/child custody arrangements.

B) Annulment / declaration of nullity

Infidelity alone is not the standard direct ground for nullity/annulment, but conduct associated with infidelity may be relevant depending on the theory pleaded (e.g., psychological incapacity claims are fact-specific and not automatic).

C) Civil damages

The offended spouse may pursue damages under applicable Civil Code provisions in appropriate cases, but success depends on the cause of action, proof, and defenses.

11) Relationship to Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC)

Philippine law on VAWC (emotional/psychological abuse, economic abuse, etc.) is a separate framework from the RPC’s concubinage. In some situations, marital infidelity and abandonment patterns may be alleged as part of psychological violence or other forms of abuse. This does not turn concubinage into VAWC automatically; they are different causes of action with different elements and remedies.

12) Practical Reality: Why Concubinage Is Often Harder to Prosecute Than People Expect

Concubinage is frequently harder to prove than adultery because it requires one of the law’s three special circumstances. Many real-life affairs do not neatly fit:

the mistress being kept in the conjugal dwelling,
the affair being “scandalous” in a legally punishable way, or
actual cohabitation elsewhere.

As a result, many marital-infidelity disputes move to:

legal separation,
support/custody/property cases, and/or
related remedies rather than a successful concubinage conviction.

13) Policy Critiques and Reform Discussions

Concubinage and adultery are widely viewed as:

gendered (different definitions for husband vs wife),
unequal in penalties, and
rooted in older moral frameworks.

Reform proposals have been discussed for many years, including decriminalization or equalization. Whether and how reforms progress depends on legislation and constitutional litigation trends.

14) Quick Reference Summary

Concubinage (RPC Art. 334) occurs when a married man:

keeps a mistress in the conjugal dwelling; or
has sex under scandalous circumstances; or
cohabits with her elsewhere.

Penalties:

Husband: prisión correccional (minimum and medium periods)
Woman: destierro (banishment/restraint from certain places)

Usually required: a complaint by the offended spouse, and proceedings generally against both offenders.

15) Common Questions

Is “having a mistress” automatically concubinage? Not automatically. The prosecution must prove one of the three punishable modes.

Can the mistress go to jail? The statutory penalty for the woman in concubinage is generally destierro, not imprisonment.

If the wife forgives the husband, can the case still proceed? Forgiveness/condonation/consent can be legally significant and may bar or undermine prosecution depending on timing and facts.

Does filing concubinage automatically fix support/custody/property? No. Those are usually handled in separate family/civil proceedings.

This article is for general legal information in Philippine context. Concubinage cases are highly fact-specific; outcomes turn on proof of the statutory mode, procedural requirements, and defenses.