The provision
ARTICLE 68. The husband and wife are obliged to live together, observe mutual love, respect and fidelity, and render mutual help and support. (109a)
Key points
Article 68 states the core personal obligations of marriage: the spouses must live together and observe mutual love, respect, and fidelity, while rendering mutual help and support.
These duties are personal, so courts do not compel cohabitation by physical force; the duty of support, however, is enforceable through an action for support, and a spouse's unjustified failure to comply can be material in related proceedings. The article frames the essential marital obligations referred to in Article 36 on psychological incapacity, and is read with Article 69 on the family domicile and Article 70 on family support.
Philippine courts have treated a spouse's serious and unjustified failure to observe these obligations as relevant evidence in proceedings for legal separation and in petitions involving the validity of the marriage. The duty of mutual support, in particular, is concretely enforceable through an action for support under the Family Code, and its measure is set in proportion to the resources of the giver and the needs of the recipient. The article supplies the content of the 'essential marital obligations' that Article 36 uses as its reference point.
Cases applying this article
- Ma. Socorro Camacho-Reyes v. Ramon Reyes-Reyes G.R. No. 185286