Was my marriage in the Philippines legal and valid?

[strbl]

Hi,

I am a Canadian and in 1987 I married a Filipino in Mandaluang Philippines. The problem is when I was married there I did not have a certificate of legal capacity to contract marriage, my bride to be was 18 years old and did not attend a Pre-Marital Counseling and Family Planning Seminar and I had been previously married and did not have a judicial decree of my absolute divorce. Nevertheless my bride to be, together with her family and my money, simply paid to the Judge and others a sum of money that let the proceedings proceed. After our marriage I sponsored my bride to come to Canada where we presently reside.

I am now living in Canada and separated for the past 20 years. The question is was I ever legally married?

 

[CanadianJeepGuy]

Hi,

I am a Canadian and in 1987 I married a Filipino in Mandaluang Philippines. The problem is when I was married there I did not have a certificate of legal capacity to contract marriage, my bride to be was 18 years old and did not attend a Pre-Marital Counseling and Family Planning Seminar and I had been previously married and did not have a judicial decree of my absolute divorce. Nevertheless my bride to be, together with her family and my money, simply paid to the Judge and others a sum of money that let the proceedings proceed. After our marriage I sponsored my bride to come to Canada where we presently reside.

I am now living in Canada and separated for the past 20 years. The question is was I ever legally married?

Wow.
Thats a tricky question. According to Canada I would say yes you were. Those prerequisites are to satisfy the Philippines government which you ended up bribing a judge and falsifying. If you were to admit to that and provide proof to substantiate it it could possibly annul the marriage but then you could be subject to whatever penalty might be attached to defrauding the Philippines government.
How does that sound?