by Kelvin King Lee, taken from his Nov. 12, 2004 column “Babble On”
on the Sun.Star Davao website. With permission from Sun.Star.

Take note, future husbands and wives, if your so called future spouse leaves you at the Church altar, after all the preparations and publicity has been made, you can actually sue him or her for civil damages under the Civil Code.

The case of Wassmer v. Velez held that: “to formally set a wedding and go through and spend for all the wedding preparations and publicity, only to walk out of it when the matrimony was about to be solemnized”…is palpably and unjustifiably contrary to good customs for which the defendant must be held answerable for damages in accordance with article 21 of the Civil Code.”

Article 21 of the Civil Code states that:

“Any person who willfully causes loss or injury to another in a manner that is contrary to morals, good customs and public policy shall compensate the latter for damages.”

Thus, jilting your spouse-to-be at the altar could be a financially painful action. In fact, if Julia Roberts in the movie Runaway Bride, where she ran out of three weddings, had ran out of the wedding in the Philippines she could have faced three lawsuits for doing so!