Norberto filed a Petition for Review on Certiorari before this court. The People of the Philippines, through the Office of the Solicitor General, filed a Comment25 to which Norberto filed a Reply.26 Norberto argues that the first element of bigamy is absent in this case.27 He presents as evidence a Certification28 from the Office of the Civil Registrar of Imus, Cavite, which states that the Office has no record of the marriage license allegedly issued in his favor and his first wife, Gina. He argues that with no proof of existence of an essential requisite of marriage—the marriage license—the prosecution fails to establish the legality of his first marriage.29 In addition, Norberto claims that the legal dissolution of the first marriage is not an element of the crime of bigamy. According to Norberto, nothing in Article 349 of the Revised Penal Code that punishes bigamy mentions that requirement.30 Stating that "[a]ny reasonable doubt must be resolved in favor of the accused[,]"31 Norberto prays for his acquittal.32 The prosecution counters that it has proven the existence of Norberto’s prior valid marriage with Gina as evidenced by the marriage contract they had executed. The prosecution likewise proved that the first marriage of Norberto with Gina was not legally dissolved; that while his first marriage was subsisting, Norberto contracted a second marriage with Alice; and that the second marriage would have been valid had it not been for the existence of the first. Norberto, therefore, should be convicted of bigamy.33 The issue for our resolution is whether the Certification from the Office of the Civil Registrar that it has no record of the marriage license issued to petitioner Norberto A. Vitangcol and his first wife Gina proves the nullity of petitioner’s first marriage and exculpates him from the bigamy charge. The Certification from the Office of the Civil Registrar that it has no record of the marriage license is suspect. Assuming that it is true, it does not categorically prove that there was no marriage license. Furthermore, marriages are not dissolved through mere certifications by the civil registrar. For more than seven (7) years before his second marriage, petitioner did nothing to have his alleged spurious first marriage declared a nullity. Even when this case was pending, he did not present any decision from any trial court nullifying his first marriage. I Bigamy is punished under Article 349 of the Revised Penal Code: ARTICLE 349. Bigamy. – The penalty of prision mayor shall be imposed upon any person who shall contract a second or subsequent marriage before the former marriage has been legally dissolved, or before the absent spouse has been declared presumptively dead by means of a judgment rendered in the proper proceedings. For an accused to be convicted of this crime, the prosecution must prove all of the following elements: [first,] that the offender has been legally married; [second,] that the first marriage has not been legally dissolved or, in case his or her spouse is absent, the absent spouse could not yet be presumed dead according to the Civil Code; [third,] that he contracts a second or subsequent marriage; and