Marital infidelity is considered psychological violence under Anti-VAWC, says SC
The Supreme Court (SC) has ruled that marital infidelity that results in emotional anguish is a form of psychological violence, thus, punishable by law and penalties.
The decision was penned by the Supreme Court after it junked a petition by a man who was found guilty of violating Republic Act No. 9262 or the Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act of 2004 (VAWC). Based on court records, the man was said to have impregnated his mistress while his wife was working abroad, causing the latter emotional anguish.
Section 5(i) of the VAWC says that a violation is committed by “causing mental or emotional anguish, public ridicule or humiliation to the woman or her child, including, but not limited to, repeated verbal and emotional abuse, and denial of financial support or custody of minor children or access to the woman’s child/children.”
The couple were married in December of 2006 and later welcomed a daughter. Two years later, the wife left the country to work in Singapore. She then found out in May 2015 that her husband has been cheating on her with another woman, who later became pregnant with her husband’s child.
The wife then sought help from the Department of Social Welfare and Development in getting her daughter from her mother-in-law.
According to a decision dated March 1 and publicized on March 21, 2023, the Court’s First Division highlighted that the man caused “mental or emotional anguish, public ridicule or humiliation” on his wife and daughter through psychological abandonment.
The petitioner then appealed before the Court of Appeals (CA), claiming that “it was his wife who alienated their child” and that the court has failed “to consider that it was him who took custody of the child when she was still seven months old until October 2015.”
The petition was junked, with CA reiterating that his claim “charged him not only with deprivation of financial support to the child, but also the act of abandoning his family.”
"BBB's (daughter) psychological trauma was evident when she wept in open court upon being asked to narrate petitioner’s infidelity. In particular, BBB explained that she was deeply hurt because her father had another family and loved another woman other than her mother, BBB,” the Court said, recalling the statement in 2015 of the then nine-year-old child.
The high court, CA, and Regional Trial Court then ruled that marital infidelity is a form of psychological violence.
Additionally, the Supreme Court highlighted different forms of abuse under Anti-VAWC, such as physical violence, sexual violence, psychological violence, and economic abuse.
