20/10/2025
SC: Republic Act 9262 or the Anti-VAWC Law Protects Even Women in Illicit Relationships |
The illicitness of a relationship a woman engages in does not diminish her dignity in any way. She will be protected just the same by the law that values her and her childrenโs dignity and guarantees full respect for their human rights.
In a Decision penned by Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, the Courtโs Second Division upheld a Permanent Protection Order (PPO) issued under Republic Act No. 9262, or the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act, over contentions that sought to straitjacket the text and spirit of the law.
The petitioner was a man against whom the PPO had been issued to prevent further acts of violence against the respondentsโhis longtime live- in partner, a woman, and their children. He was 47 and admittedly married when he met the respondent woman, then 20, in 1979.
Before the Court, the petitioner primarily argues that Republic Act No. 9262 cannot provide relief for the respondent woman, as she was only his paramour. For him, although the lawโs protection extends to a woman with whom one has or had a sexual or dating relationship, this should be interpreted to mean as a relationship without any legal impediment to marry each other. Otherwise, he says, the law would effectively tolerate adulterous relationships.
Applying the rule on statutory construction that when the law does not make any distinction, neither should the courts, the Court corrected the petitionerโs mistaken notion. It said that the law โprotects women and their children from various forms of violence and abuse committed within a setting of an intimate relationshipโโincluding the respondent woman and their children.
The Supreme Court Public Information Office will upload the decision to the SC website once it receives an official copy from the Office of the Clerk Court Second Division. (G.R. No. 187175, Cabaรฑez v. AAA)
Read more at https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/28495/.
SC: Republic Act 9262 or the Anti-VAWC Law Protects Even Women in Illicit Relationships |
The illicitness of a relationship a woman engages in does not diminish her dignity in any way. She will be protected just the same by the law that values her and her childrenโs dignity and guarantees full respect for their human rights.
In a Decision penned by Senior Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, the Courtโs Second Division upheld a Permanent Protection Order (PPO) issued under Republic Act No. 9262, or the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act, over contentions that sought to straitjacket the text and spirit of the law.
The petitioner was a man against whom the PPO had been issued to prevent further acts of violence against the respondentsโhis longtime live- in partner, a woman, and their children. He was 47 and admittedly married when he met the respondent woman, then 20, in 1979.
Before the Court, the petitioner primarily argues that Republic Act No. 9262 cannot provide relief for the respondent woman, as she was only his paramour. For him, although the lawโs protection extends to a woman with whom one has or had a sexual or dating relationship, this should be interpreted to mean as a relationship without any legal impediment to marry each other. Otherwise, he says, the law would effectively tolerate adulterous relationships.
Applying the rule on statutory construction that when the law does not make any distinction, neither should the courts, the Court corrected the petitionerโs mistaken notion. It said that the law โprotects women and their children from various forms of violence and abuse committed within a setting of an intimate relationshipโโincluding the respondent woman and their children.
The Supreme Court Public Information Office will upload the decision to the SC website once it receives an official copy from the Office of the Clerk Court Second Division. (G.R. No. 187175, Cabaรฑez v. AAA)
Read more at https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/28495/.
