Kris Aquino and James Yap's Annulment Not Over Yet

I've recently heard in the news that Kris Aquino and James Yap marriage is now annulled on the ground that
1) The church officer had an expired license during that time, thus does not have authority to solemnize marriage, and
2) Neither Kris nor James was a member of the religious sect from of that church officer.

Under the Civil Code, the authority of the solemnizing officer is one of the formal requisites of marriage. Absence of any of the formal requisites shall render the marriage void. At first glance, whoever reads the Civil Code will end up interpreting that "yeah, since there is an absence of the authority of the solemnizing officer, Kris and James marriage should be annuled".

However, the Supreme Court has consistently held that the solemnizing officer's lack of authority is not considered as absence in the formal requisites in marriage, but just a defect.
Also, it is enough that one of the spouses believed in the authority of the solemnizing officer to give rise to that effect. Therefore, it does noes render the marriage void. The marriage is valid.

Since Kris and James represented themselves (or one of them represented him/herself) as members of that religious sect for them to be wed under the authority of the solemnizing officer, they are estopped from putting as an argument that they are not or neither of them is a member of that said church. They cannot use this argument as a ground for annulment.

I really wonder how the judge came to that decision. Kris' lawyer had an interview in TV and she confirmed that she used the above grounds in the petition for annulment of marriage. How could she say that in national television? Doesn't she know that it is an elementary rule (as for law students perhaps) that the lack of authority of the solemnizing officer is just a defect, therefore would not affect the validity of marriage? She probably put herself in a not-so-good position in saying that.

So what's next?
By right, the Republic of the Philippines should fight for the validity of marriage and upheld the Constitution's value, that is to strengthen and promote the welfare of family. It is possible that the annulment case is not over yet, and could be raised to the higher courts.