Dear PAO,
My father is begging me to execute a Special Power of Attorney (SPA) before our embassy abroad, authorizing him to file a criminal complaint for adultery against my wife and her paramour. According to him, he cannot bear the shame brought to our family by the illicit affair of my wife, so he wants to file the case himself. If I execute the SPA, would that case prosper?
-Asuko
Dear Asuko,
Adultery is a crime under Article 344 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines. Under the said provision of law:
“The crimes of adultery and concubinage shall not be prosecuted except upon a complaint filed by the offended spouse.
“The offended party cannot institute criminal prosecution without including both the guilty parties, if they are both alive, nor, in any case, if he shall have consented or pardoned the offenders. xxx”
Correlative thereto, Section 5, Rule 110 of the Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure also states that:
“The crimes of adultery and concubinage shall not be prosecuted except upon a complaint filed by the offended spouse. The offended party cannot institute criminal prosecution without including the guilty parties, if both alive, nor, in any case, if the offended party has consented to the offense or pardoned the offenders.”
Thus, the offended spouse himself must institute the criminal prosecution for adultery against his wife and her paramour. A complaint for adultery filed by another person, even if authorized by the husband, fails to comply with this jurisdictional requirement. This is in consonance with the decision in Chua-Chiba vs. Chiba and Llona, G.R. No. 277020, May 19, 2025, where the Supreme Court, through Associate Justice Antonio T. Kho, Jr., stated that:
“Further, the Court has invariably maintained strict adherence to the jurisdictional requirement that a complaint for adultery must be filed by the offended spouse. This legal requirement was imposed “out of consideration for the aggrieved party who might prefer to suffer the outrage in silence rather than go through the scandal of a public trial.” The law leaves it to the option of the aggrieved spouse to seek judicial redress for the affront committed by the erring spouse.
“In this case, the complaint for adultery against Aurel and Michael was not initiated by Jin, the offended spouse. Records revealed that the prosecution for the crime of adultery commenced with a complaint-affidavit filed by Marvin, Jin’s authorized representative. Although Jin submitted his own complaint-affidavit accusing Aurel and Michael of adultery, it was only included as an annex to the complaint-affidavit filed by Marvin. Clearly, the jurisdictional requirement for filing an adultery case under Rule 110, Section 5 of the Revised Rules of Criminal Procedure and Article 344 of the RPC was not met. Therefore, since no valid complaint for adultery was filed against Aurel and Michael, the MeTC Pasay City-Branch 167 was correct in granting the Motion to dismiss and subsequently ordering the dismissal of Criminal Case No. R-PSY-23-00670-CR.”
Applying the above-quoted jurisprudence to your situation, it is required that you file the criminal complaint for adultery, not through your father or any other person. That is to say, you must be the one to execute the complaint-affidavit before the prosecution office. Otherwise, the jurisdictional requirement for filing an adultery case will not be complied with.
We hope that we were able to answer your queries. This advice was based solely on the facts you have narrated and our appreciation of the same. Our opinion may vary when other facts are changed or elaborated.
Editor’s note: Dear PAO is a daily column of the Public Attorney’s Office. Questions for Chief Acosta may be sent to dearpao@manilatimes.net
