RA 9262

The Anti-Violence
Against Women
and Their
Children Act
Are you living in an abusive
relationship?
How can you protect yourself
and your children from an
abusive father, or boyfriend?
What are your rights under the
law if your suffer from physical,
economic, sexual and
psychological abuse or
violence?
What help can you expect from
the authorities if you suffer
One in five women aged 15-49
has experienced physical
violence since age 15
One in twenty five women age 15-49
who have ever had sex ever
experienced forced first sexual
intercourse
Emotional and other forms of non-personal violence are
the most common types of spousal violence (23% of
ever-married women). One in seven ever-married
women experienced physical violence by their husbands
while 8 percent experienced sexual violence by their
husbands
Introduction
REPUBLIC ACT 9262 is a landmark
legislation that defines and criminalizes
acts of violence against women and
children (VAWC) perpetrated by woman’s
intimate partners. The law provides for
protection orders from the barangay
and the courts to prevent the
commission and further acts of VAWC; and
outlines the duties and responsibilities of
barangay officials, law enforces,
prosecutions and court personnel, social
workers, health care providers, and other
Violence Against Women
and their Children
Act or a series of acts committed by any
person against a woman who is his wife,
former wife, or a woman with whom the
person has or had a dating or sexual
relationship, or with whom he has a
common child, or against her child
whether legitimate or illegitimate, within
or without the family abode, which result
in or is likely to result in physical, sexual,
psychological harm or suffering, or
economic abuse including threats of
such acts, battery, assault, coercion,
WHO MAY BE
PUNISHED?
• Husbands or former husbands;
• Any person with whom the
victim has or had a sexual or
dating relationship (e.g.
boyfriends, live-in partners, or
lesbian partners);
• Any person with whom the
victim has a common child;
• Father of the child-victim
“Dating Relationship”
• Parties live as husband and wife
without the benefit of marriage
• Parties are romantically involved over
time and on a continuing basis during
the course of the relationship

The dating relationship that the law

contemplates can, therefore, exist even
without a sexual intercourse taking
place between those involved.
“Dating Relationship”
A person is charged of violation
of RA 9262. As his defense, he
contended that their relationship
( 3 mos from Oct. to Dec) is of
“away-bati” nature their
romance cannot be regarded as
having developed "over time
and on a continuing basis."
“Dating Relationship”
RULING:
IT IS INDEED A DATING
RELATIONSHIP
An "away-bati" or a fight-and-kiss
thing between two lovers is a
common occurrence. Their taking
place does not mean that the
romantic relation between the
two should be deemed broken up
Sexual Relation

It refers to a single
sexual act which
may or may not
result in the bearing
of a common child.
Is RA 9262 Violative of the
Equal Protection Clause?
Violence Against Women and
Their Children as Defined by
Law
It refers to “any act or a series of acts
committed by any person against a woman
who is his wife, former wife, or against a
woman with whom the person has or had
a sexual or dating relationship, or with
whom he has a common child, or against her
child whether legitimate or illegitimate,
within or without the family abode, which result
in or is likely to result in physical, sexual,
psychological harm or suffering, or
economic abuse including threats of such
acts, battery, assault, coercion, harassment or
arbitrary deprivation of liberty.
Violence Against Women and
Their Children as Defined by
Law
• It includes PHYSICAL
VIOLENCE, SEXUAL VIOLENCE
,PSYCHOLOGICAL VIOLENCE
and ECONOMIC ABUSE.
Physical Violence
• acts that include bodily
or physical harm
Q: May a boyfriend who had
been hurting his girlfriend every
time they fight and even
threatens to kill her be sued in
violation of RA 9262??

A: Yes. Physical violence against

the woman as well as threatening
to inflict physical harm on a
woman for the purpose of
controlling her actions or
decisions is deemed as an act of
violence against women.
Sexual Violence
• “Sexual violence” refers to an act which is sexual
in nature, committed against a woman or her
child. It includes, but is not limited to:

a) rape, sexual harassment, acts of lasciviousness,

treating a woman or her child as a sex object,
making demeaning and sexually suggestive
remarks, physically attacking the sexual parts of
the victim’s body, forcing her/him to watch obscene
publications and indecent shows or forcing the
woman or her child to do indecent acts and/or make
films thereof, forcing the wife and mistress/lover to
live in the conjugal home or sleep together in the
same room with the abuser;
Sexual Violence
b) acts causing or attempting to
cause the victim to engage in any
sexual activity by force, threat of
force, physical or other harm or
threat of physical or other harm or
coercion;

c) prostituting the woman or her

child
Psychological Violence
• Acts or omissions causing or likely to
cause mental or emotional suffering of
the victim such as but not limited to
intimidation, harassment, stalking,
damage to property, public ridicule or
humiliation, repeated verbal abuse and
marital infidelity. It includes causing or
allowing the victim to witness the
physical, sexual or psychological abuse of
a member of the family to which the
victim belongs, or to witness
pornography in any form or to witness
abusive injury to pets or to unlawful or
 What are the elements of the
crime of violence against
women through harassment?
• The elements of the crime of violence
against women through harassment are:
• The offender has or had a sexual or dating
relationship with the offended woman;
• The offender, by himself or through
another, commits an act or series of acts
of harassment against the woman;
• The harassment alarms or causes
substantial emotional or psychological
distress to her.
Q: A husband had been cheating on his for
over three years now with various women.
May a case filed against him?

The acts of the husband of cheating have caused

mental and emotional suffering. Such acts may be a
ground for the filing of a VAWC case for
“psychological violence”
Note on Marital Infidelity
Article 334 of the Revised Penal
Code, “Any husband who shall keep
a mistress in the conjugal dwelling,
or shall have sexual intercourse,
under scandalous circumstances,
with a woman who is not his wife,
or shall cohabit with her in any
other place, shall be punished by
prision correccional in its minimum
and medium periods. x x x The
concubine shall suffer the penalty
Economic Abuse

acts that make or

attempt to make a
woman financially
dependent. This
includes but is not
limited to the following:
Economic Abuse
• withdrawal of financial support or preventing
the victim from engaging in any legitimate
profession, occupation, business or activity,
except in cases wherein the other
spouse/partner objects on valid, serious and
moral grounds as defined in Article 73 of the
Family Code;

(Either spouse may exercise any legitimate

profession, occupation, business or activity
without the consent of the other. The latter may
object only on valid, serious, and moral grounds.)
Economic Abuse
• deprivation or threat of
deprivation of financial
resources and the right
to the use and enjoyment
of the conjugal,
community or property
owned in common;
Economic Abuse

•destroying
household
property;
Economic Abuse
•controlling the victim’s
own money or
properties or solely
controlling the
conjugal money or
properties.
• Battered Woman
Syndrome as a Defense. –
Victim-survivors who are
found by the courts to be
suffering from battered
woman syndrome do not
incur any criminal and civil
liability notwithstanding
the absence of any of the
elements for justifying
The Battered Woman
Syndrome is a repeated and
cyclical violence against a
woman which results in the
“immobilization of the
latter’s ability to act
decisively in her own interest
and making her feel trapped
in a relationship with no
means of escape.” (People v.
The Case of Marivic
Genosa
The Court agonized on how to apply the theory as
a modern-day reality. It took great effort beyond
the normal manner in which decisions are made --
on the basis of existing law and jurisprudence
applicable to the proven facts.

While our hearts empathize with recurrently

battered persons, we can only work within the
limits of law, jurisprudence and given facts. We
cannot make or invent them. Neither can we
amend the Revised Penal Code. Only Congress, in
its wisdom, may do so.
Battered Women
Syndrome
• Cycle of domestic violence
characterized by wife-beating
by the husband, humiliation
and other forms of aggression
• The most common trait of
abusive men is low self-esteem
• The most common trait of the
abused woman is dependence
Abusive Husband
• They usually come from violent
families
• They are immature, dependent
and non-assertive
• They have strong feelings of
inadequacy
Who gets protected?
• The law recognizes the
unequal relations of a man
and a woman in an abusive
relationship where it is usually
the woman who is the
disadvantaged.
• Thus, the law protects the
woman and her children. „
What can the victims do?
The victim can file any or all of the
following:
• Protection Orders
• Barangay Protection Order
• Temporary and Permanent
Protection Orders
• Independent Civil Action for
Damages
• Criminal Action for Violation of the
Anti-VAWC Act
Penalties
If the courts have proven that the
offender is guilty of the crime, he may
be imprisoned and will be obliged to pay
P100, 000 to P300, 000 in damages. The
length of imprisonment depends on the
gravity of the crime. The offender is also
obliged to undergo psychological
counseling or psychiatric treatment.
Being drunk or under the influence
of prohibited drugs cannot be taken
as an excuse for committing VAW.