MUSLIM CONVERTS AND BIGAMY IN PHILIPPINE PENAL LAW: EXPLORING THE FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGION AS A DEFENSE

Abstract

The Islamic approach to polygyny, i.e., the permission to have more than one wife but not more than four at a time, applies to Philippine Muslims, subject to compliance with the requisites and conditions of its practice under Muslim law as articulated in the Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines. However, Philippine Muslim converts with subsisting civil marriages are at the risk of
being prosecuted for the crime of bigamy under Philippine penal law once they contract a second or subsequent marriage under Muslim law after their conversion to Islam. By exploring this specific problem, this article highlights significant lessons emerging from the interface of criminal prosecution for bigamy and the defense of free exercise of religion. With the adoption of the Benevolent Neutrality/Accommodation stance using the Strict Scrutiny-Compelling State Interest test in the Philippine jurisdiction in the landmark Religion Clauses case of Estrada v Escritor, the possibility of a mandatory accommodation/exemption from the application of general penal law of bigamy is tested in the specific problem or context of this article. Though mandatory accommodation/exemption from criminal statutes burdening religious liberty is still uncertain in the Philippine jurisdiction, yet this article has demonstrated the extent of the Religion Clauses of the Philippine Constitution vis-à-vis the Islamic practice of polygamy by Philippine Muslim converts and its tension with the criminalisation of bigamy under the Revised Penal Code.