Garcia vs Drilon (GR No 173267)
FACTS:
Petitioner (Jesus Garcia) and respondent (Rosalie Jaye-Garcia) were married in
2002 when she was 34 years old and Jesus was 11 years her senior. They have
three children. During their marriage, respondent claims that petitioner forbid her
to pray and isolated her from her friends.
Petitioner also took up an affair with a bank manager of Robinsons Bank, Bacolod
City, and admitted about it to respondent in 2004.
It spawned a series of fights that left private respondent physically and emotionally
wounded. He also hit Jo-Anne (oldest of the child) on the chest and slapped her
many times. Respondent attempted suicide and was found by her son. Petitioner
did not bring her to the hospital.
Jesus Garcia assails the constitutionality of the said law (RA 9262) as being violative
of the equal protection.
Petitioner claims that since R.A. 9262 is intended to prevent and criminalize
spousal and child abuse, which could very well be committed by either the
husband or the wife, gender alone is not enough basis to deprive the
husband/father of the remedies under the law.
ISSUE:
W/N the CA committed serious error in failing to conclude that RA 9262 is
discriminatory, unjust, and violative of the equal protection clause? - NO
HELD:
Equal protection simply requires that all persons or things similarly situated
should be treated alike, both as to rights conferred and responsibilities imposed.
The Constitution does not require that things which are different in fact be
treated in law as though they were the same.
The equal protection of the laws clause of the Constitution allows classifcation,
which is the grouping of things in speculation or practice because they agree with
one another in certain particulars.
A law is not invalid because of simple inequality. The very idea of classifcation is
that of inequality, so that it goes without saying that the mere fact of inequality in
no manner determines the matter of constitutionality.
All that is required of a valid classification is that it be reasonable, which means
that the classifcation should be based on:
o substantial distinctions which make for real differences;
o It must be germane to the purpose of the law;
o It must not be limited to existing conditions only; and
o It must apply equally to each member of the class.
R.A. 9262 rests on substantial distinctions.
UN: violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power
relations between men and women, which have led to domination over and
discrimination against women by men and to the prevention of the full
advancement of women, and that violence against women is one of the crucial
social mechanisms by which women are forced into subordinate positions,
compared with men.
Women are the usual and most likely victims of violence. While there are, indeed,
relatively few cases of violence and abuse perpetrated against men in the
Philippines, the same cannot render R.A. 9262 invalid.
As emphasized by the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women, addressing or correcting discrimination through
specific measures focused on women does not discriminate against men.
As a State Party to the CEDAW, the Philippines bound itself to take all appropriate
measures "to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and
women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary
and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the
superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women.
The classifcation is germane to the purpose of the law.
The distinction between men and women is germane to the purpose of R.A. 9262,
which is to address violence committed against women and children, as stated in
its declaration of policy.
The classifcation is not limited to existing conditions only, and apply equally to all members
The application of R.A. 9262 is not limited to the existing conditions when it was
promulgated, but to future conditions as well, for as long as the safety and security
of women and their children are threatened by violence and abuse.
R.A. 9262 applies equally to all women and children who suffer violence and
abuse.