Decision
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G.R. No. 232678
victim such as but not limited to intimidation, harassment,
stalking, damage to property, public ridicule or humiliation,
repeated verbal abuse and mental 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 unwanted
deprivation of the right to custody and/or visitation of common
children.
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Section 5(i) of R.A No. 9262 penalizes some forms of psychological
violence that are inflicted on victims who are women and children through the
following acts:
xxxx
(i)
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 offinancial support or custody of
minor children or access to the woman's child/children. 17
In Dinamling v. People, 18 the Court had the occasion to enumerate the
elements of violation of Section S(i) ofR.A. No. 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 acts or
omissions. 19
Were the elements of violation of Section 5(i) sufficiently alleged in the
June 5, 2006 Information? To answer this query and for easy reference, the
accusatory portion of the Information is hereto reproduced, as follows:
That on or about the month of July, 2005 and continuously up to the
present, in Quezon City, Philippines, the said accused, did then and there,
willfully, unlawfully and feloniously commit economic abuse upon his wife,
AAA, by then and there abandoning her without any financial supp::.Jf'
17
18
19
Emphasis ours.
761 Phil. 356,373 (2015).
Emphasis ours.
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