The Makati Regional Trial Court has declared singer-actress Zsa Zsa Padilla’s fake marriage to a Japanese man null and void.
It all started when Padilla found out in 2016 that she was apparently “married” to Japanese man named Shigemi Nabehigashi who she has never met her entire life, reported PEP.ph.
Padilla was in the process of obtaining a CENOMAR or Certificate of No Marriage as she was about to marry her fiancé Conrad Onglao when she found out that she apparently has an existing marriage contract with Nabehigashi.
Padilla said that she has only married once in her life and that is with Modesto Tatlonghari, the father of singer-actress Karylle, on August 1, 1980. This is why she was surprised when she found out that she was married to a Japanese man she never met.
According to the marriage contract, Padilla and Nabehigashi tied the knot on June 29, 1992 at the Manila City Hall. Rev. Mario J. Dauz was mentioned in the contract as the solemnizing officer.
However, Padilla said that the contract is fake as no marriage took place between her and Nabehigashi that day.
In 2017, Padilla formally filed a complaint to nullify the fake marriage.
Padilla said that it was impossible for her to get married that day because she flew to Hong Kong on March 2, 1992, and to the United States on March 4, 1992. The entries in her passport have also proven that she has flown to those countries on those days and that she only returned to the Philippines on August 12, 1992. Padilla said that she was with her former partner Dolphy Quizon when she went abroad.
The Bureau of Immigration said that Padilla’s passport and all the entries in it are true.
It was also uncovered that Nabehigashi was not in the Philippines when the supposed marriage happened.
With all the pieces of evidence proving that the marriage was fake, the only question left was who was behind it?
Though it hasn’t been proven yet, Padilla speculates that the one who orchestrated the fake marriage was her former husband, Modesto Tatlonghari, so that she cannot marry Dolphy that time.
Tatlonghari and Padilla separated in a few years before she started living in with Dolphy in 1989. Their church wedding and civil wedding got annulled in 2004 and 2010, respectively.
Padilla then planned on marrying Dolphy, but he unfortunately passed away in 2012.
In the end, the Makati Regional Trial Court has finally declared Padilla’s fake marriage with Nabehigashi null and void on April 6, 2019.
As stated in the decision signed by Judge Cristina F. Javalera-Sulit, Padilla has “testified that she has never met Nabehigashi during her entire existence“, and that she claimed that the “execution of the alleged marriage contract and the application for marriage license were bogus as she did not sign both documents”.
The court decision further reads:
“Declaring the marriage between petitioner Esperanza Perez Padilla and respondent Shigemi Nabehigashi on June 12, 1992 in Manila City as void ab initio and for being a sham marriage, with all legal effects as provided for under applicable law.”
“Ordering the Local Registrars of Manila and Makati City and the National Statistics Office upon finality of this Decision, to cancel from their respective Book of Marriages the marriage contract between the herein parties and, in lieu thereof, to record the Instant Decision in accordance with law.”
