Are you married and you want your civil status to be single again?
Do not try it through online platforms that offer “marriage annulment packages,” the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) warned on Thursday, Sept. 15.
In a statement, the NBI said it arrested during entrapment operations three persons who offered their services to turn the civil status of married persons to single again.
It said “the operations stemmed from the request of Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo who sought an investigation on the rampant inappropriate advertisements of marriage annulment packages via different online platforms.”
It said the NBI’s Special Action Unit (NBI-SAU) was tasked to investigate the request of Chief Justice Gesmundo.
Last Sept. 8, it said, it arrested Carl Reyes and live-in partners Marco Norega and Rona Castillo during two separate simultaneous entrapment operations.
The NBI said Reyes as arrested in a mall in Pasay City where he was caught “in flagrante (in the act) offering the poseur-client a service of deletion of his record of marriage with Philippine Statistical Authority (PSA) within four months, in exchange for P180,000.”
“According to Subject Reyes, a 75 percent down payment is required in order to start the process. Upon handing over the marked money to Subject Reyes, NBI-SAU operatives conducted the arrest,” it said.
Norega and Castillo, on the other hand, were arrested in Bacoor, Cavite.
“The two (2) Subjects offered the poseur-client their services in obtaining marriage annulment documents within five to eight months,” the NBI said.
It said Norega and Castillo offered the poseur-client the two options in becoming single: for P70,000, one of the parties in the marriage becomes single, while the other remains married; or, for P250,000, both parties in the marriage become single.
To prove that they are legitimate, the NBI said “Subject Castillo presented official documents issued and signed by a Judge of a certain RTC (regional trial court) Branch in Manila pertaining to a Nullity of Marriage dated Feb. 23, 2022.”
“Subject Reyes was presented for inquest proceedings for Estafa in relation to R.A. (Republic Act) 10175 (Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012) and Section 12 of R.A. 9485 (Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007),” the NBI said.
“Meanwhile, Subjects Norega and Castillo were charged with Estafa in relation to R.A. 10175 (Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012), Section 12 of R.A. 9485 (Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007), and Falsification of Official Documents,” it added.