AFIFE ABDO CHEYBAN GORAYEB, PLAINTIFF AND APPELLEE, VS. NADJIB TANNUS HASHIM, DEFENDANT AND APPELLANT.

OSTRAND, J.:

This is an action by a wife against her husband for a separate maintenance
allowance. The complaint alleges, in substance, that the plaintiff is legally
married to the defendant; that the defendant refuses to receive her in his house
and to support her; and that she has no property of her own and no means of
support. She therefore prays that the defendant be ordered to pay her the sum of
P1,000 a month for her maintenance.

The defendant in his amended answer denies generally the allegations of the
complaint and sets up as special defenses that the plaintiff, without his
consent, abandoned him in April, 1914, and that she has since committed adultery
with her cousin.

The trial court found that the parties have been legally married; that the
marriage has not been dissolved; and that the defendant is legally bound to
support the plaintiff; and therefore ordered the defendant to pay her a
permanent maintenance allowance of P500 a month. From this judgment the
defendant appeals to this court.

The special defenses set up in the defendant’s answer have not been
sufficiently established and the evidence leaves no doubt as to the facts that
the parties are legally married and that the plaintiff is entitled to a
maintenance allowance. With reference to the amount of the maintenance allowance
awarded by the court below, it may be observed that inasmuch as in respect to
modifications, a judgment rendered in a suit for separate maintenance is not
regarded as final and may be modified at any time for sufficient reasons upon
application to the court having original jurisdiction, the appellate courts
will, as a rule, not interfere with the findings and conclusions of the lower
courts in regard to such allowances. Upon the evidence before us, we cannot say
that in this case the allowance is so excessive as to call for our
interference.

The judgment appealed from is therefore affirmed, with the costs against the
appellant. So ordered.

Street, Malcolm, Avanceña, Villamor, Johns, and Romualdez,
JJ., concur.