The Court of Appeals (CA) has upheld the ruling of a Makati court that voided the marriage of actress Kristine Hermosa and actor Diether Ocampo.

It was Kristine who initiated the annulment. Diether, on the other hand, refused to file any responsive pleadings to Kristine’s petition for annulment of marriage.

In a decision penned by Associate Justice Sesinando Villalon, the Second Division of the CA ruled, “We find the evidence on records sufficient to prove petitioner’s allegation that the marriage ceremony as stated in the Certificate of Marriage between her and respondent which was supposed to have been celebrated on September 21, 2004 at Jaen, Nueva Ecija did not actually take place.”

Being both talents of TV network ABS-CBN, Kristine and Diether fell in love as they worked together on movie projects. They decided to get married on July 14, 2004.

However, while there were pictures to show that Diether and Kristine were wed by Jaen Mayor Antonio Esquivel on July 14, 2004 and witnessed by Col. Eduardo Divina and his wife, Susan, Kristine and Diether did not have a marriage license and were not required to sign a marriage contract.

Instead, documents sent to the young couple later indicated that their marriage license was issued on September 10, 2004. The date and time of the marriage was left blank and it was only later that the date September 21, 2004 was inserted as the alleged date of marriage.