Facts

In 2006, Petitioner and AAA got married and had a daughter, BBB. However, due to financial difficulties, AAA left for Singapore to work abroad and to help sustain their family. Later on, AAA learned that the petitioner entered into a relationship with another woman, CCC, which relationship later resulted in CCC’s pregnancy. AAA even brought CCC to their hometown, thereby prompting AAA to return home and to seek the help of the DSWD to regain custody of her daughter, who was then with her mother-in-law. Their daughter, BBB, likewise testified in court, stating that she was deeply hurt that her father had an affair with CCC and that she wanted her parents to reconcile. She likewise said that she no longer loved her father.

Hence, AAA filed a criminal complaint for violation of the Anti-VAWC Law on the grounds of psychological violence due to the emotional and psychological abandonment done against herself and their child, BBB.

ISSUE: Can psychological abandonment and infidelity be considered as psychological violence under the Anti-VAWC Law?

Ruling

Yes.

The Supreme Court enumerated the elements required under Sec, 5(i) of RA 9262, to wit:

1. The offended party is a woman and/or her child or children;
2. The woman is either the wife or former wife of the offender, or is a woman with whom the offender has or had a sexual or dating relationship, or is a woman with whom such offender has a common child. As for the woman’s child or children, they may be legitimate or illegitimate, or living within or without the family abode;
3. The offender causes on the woman and/or child mental or emotional anguish; and
4. The anguish is caused through acts of public ridicule or humiliation, repeated verbal and emotional abuse, denial of financial support or custody of minor children or access to the children or similar to such acts or omissions.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court affirmed that under Section 5(i) of Republic Act No. 9262, psychological violence encompasses more than just repeated verbal abuse or physical threats; it also includes acts such as marital infidelity and abandonment when these cause measurable mental or emotional suffering to the woman or her child. The Court emphasized that the law’s protection extends not only to the wife but equally to their children as independent victims of psychological violence.

Crucially, the Court underscored that the determining factor in establishing psychological violence is the effect of the offender’s conduct on the victim’s emotional and mental well-being, rather than the offender’s intent. In this case, the petitioner’s extramarital affair and subsequent emotional and psychological abandonment inflicted significant emotional anguish on his daughter, as evidenced by her tearful testimony and behavioral changes, thereby satisfying the elements of psychological violence under RA 9262. The Court thus broadened the scope of the law to criminalize non-physical forms of domestic abuse, affirming that acts causing emotional trauma within the family are just as punishable as physical violence.

---