The question whether a marriage remains valid even if the solemnizing officer never signed the marriage certificate (or any separate “affidavit of solemnization”) arises frequently in Philippine practice, particularly in church weddings where the civil marriage contract is sometimes left unsigned or unsubmitted, or when judges, mayors, or priests overlook the civil documentation. This article exhaustively discusses the issue under the Family Code, jurisprudence, civil registration laws, and administrative practice.

1. The Essential and Formal Requisites Are Exhaustive – Documentation Is Not Among Them

Articles 2–4 of the Family Code categorically enumerate what makes a marriage valid:

Essential requisites (Art. 2)

Legal capacity (male and female, of legal age, no legal impediment)
Consent freely given in the presence of the solemnizing officer

Formal requisites (Art. 3)

Authority of the solemnizing officer
Valid marriage license (or exemption under Arts. 27–34)
Marriage ceremony with personal appearance of the parties before the solemnizing officer and their personal declaration that they take each other as husband and wife in the presence of at least two witnesses of legal age

Article 4 is explicit:

“The absence of any of the essential or formal requisites shall render the marriage void ab initio …
An irregularity in the formal requisites shall not affect the validity of the marriage but shall make the party responsible liable…”

The signature or affidavit of the solemnizing officer is not listed in Articles 2 or 3. It is therefore, at most, an irregularity that does not affect validity.

2. Article 6 Does Not Elevate the Signature to a Formal Requisite

Article 6 states:

“No prescribed form or religious rite for the solemnization of the marriage is required. It shall be necessary, however, for the contracting parties to appear personally before the solemnizing officer and declare in the presence of not less than two witnesses of legal age that they take each other as husband and wife. This declaration shall be contained in the marriage certificate which shall be signed by the contracting parties and their witnesses and attested by the solemnizing officer.”

The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that Article 6 merely describes the best mode of complying with the third formal requisite (the ceremony). It does not add a fourth formal requisite.

Key rulings:

Madridejo v. De Leon, G.R. No. L-32473, June 30, 1970
“The marriage certificate is not an essential or formal requisite of marriage; it is merely evidence of the celebration thereof.”
People v. Dumpo, G.R. No. 142933, January 10, 2005
“Non-registration of a marriage does not destroy its validity much less the absence of the signature of the solemnizing officer on the marriage certificate, provided all the essential and formal requisites under Articles 2 and 3 are present.”
Sevilla v. Cardenas, G.R. No. 167684, July 31, 2006
Even when the space for the solemnizing officer’s signature was blank, the marriage was upheld because the fact of celebration was sufficiently proven by other evidence.
Republic v. Court of Appeals & Peralta, G.R. No. 159594, December 12, 2005
Explicitly declared that the absence of the solemnizing officer’s signature is a mere irregularity.

Thus, the attestation contemplated in Article 6 is evidentiary, not constitutive of the marriage.

3. The Marriage Certificate vs. the Marriage Itself

The marriage is perfected at the moment the parties personally declare before the authorized officer and two witnesses that they take each other as spouses (Art. 3[3]). The signing of the document is a subsequent ministerial act.

If the solemnizing officer dies, disappears, or simply refuses or forgets to sign after having actually performed the ceremony, the marriage is not rendered void. The spouses remain legally married.

4. Practical Consequences of an Unsigned or Unsubmitted Marriage Contract

While validity is unaffected, the following problems arise:

a. Delayed or impossible timely registration (within 15 days)
b. Difficulty obtaining a PSA Certificate of Marriage (COM)
c. Complications in passport applications, bank accounts, insurance beneficiary designations, inheritance proceedings, visa applications, etc.
d. In bigamy prosecutions, the prosecution may argue lack of proof of the first marriage, although the defense can still prove it through secondary evidence.

5. Remedies When the Solemnizing Officer Did Not Sign or Submit the Marriage Contract

The remedies, ranked from simplest to most cumbersome:

Secure an Affidavit of Solemnization from the officer (even years later) and file for delayed registration with the LCRO together with the unsigned contract and affidavits of the parties and two witnesses.
If the officer is already dead or cannot be located, file delayed registration supported by:
- Joint affidavit of the spouses
- Affidavits of the two witnesses
- Affidavit of two disinterested persons who attended the wedding
- Church certificate (if church wedding)
- Birth certificates of children acknowledging the marriage
- Other documentary evidence (photos, invitations, etc.)
If the Local Civil Registrar still refuses registration, file a Petition for Delayed Registration under Rule 108 of the Rules of Court or RA 10172/9048 (administrative correction) with the Regional Trial Court.
In extreme cases where registration is impossible or unnecessary (e.g., for succession or annulment proceedings), file a Petition for Judicial Notice/Declaration of the Fact of Marriage. The court will receive parol evidence and, once proven, declare the marriage valid and existing. This judicial order is annotatable on the parties’ birth certificates and serves as sufficient proof for all legal purposes.

6. Special Situations

a. Church weddings where only the canonical certificate was signed
Since members of the clergy listed in Article 7(2) are authorized to solemnize marriages with civil effects, the marriage is civilly valid even if the civil contract was never signed or submitted. The church certificate plus secondary evidence suffices for delayed registration or judicial declaration.

b. Marriages solemnized by judges/mayors who signed only the license or a logbook but not the certificate
Still valid. The logbook entry or the judge’s certification can be used for registration.

c. “Affidavit marriages” or Article 34 marriages (5-year cohabitation)
These require an entirely different affidavit (Affidavit of Cohabitation), not from the solemnizing officer (there is none). Completely separate issue.

d. Marriages abroad
Consularized Report of Marriage serves the same function. Absence of the foreign solemnizing officer’s signature on a Philippine-form certificate does not invalidate the marriage.

7. Criminal, Civil, and Administrative Liability for Non-Signing Officer

Under Article 23 of the Family Code and Section 44 of the Civil Registration Law (Act 3753 as amended), the solemnizing officer who fails to transmit the marriage certificate within the reglementary period may be held administratively liable (priests by their bishop, judges by the Office of the Court Administrator, mayors by DILG). Criminal liability is possible under Article 353 of the Revised Penal Code if done with malice, but this is rare.

The spouses have a cause of action for damages against the officer who negligently or willfully failed to accomplish the documentation.

Conclusion

Under settled Philippine law and jurisprudence, a marriage celebrated with all the essential and formal requisites prescribed in Articles 2 and 3 of the Family Code is perfectly valid even if the solemnizing officer never signed the marriage certificate or any separate affidavit of solemnization. The signature/attestation is a mere evidentiary formality whose absence constitutes an irregularity that does not touch the validity of the marital bond.

The only practical consequence is difficulty (but not impossibility) of civil registration and proof. All such difficulties are curable through delayed registration procedures or, in the last resort, judicial declaration.

Spouses faced with this situation should immediately gather all available collateral evidence (church certificate, photos, witnesses’ affidavits, children’s birth certificates) and proceed with delayed registration or court action. The marriage itself remains indissoluble unless annulled or declared void on grounds recognized in the Family Code.