Republic of the Philippines
SUPREME COURT
Manila
THIRD DIVISION
G.R. No. 170701
January 22, 2014
RALPH P. TUA, Petitioner,
vs.
HON. CESAR A. MANGROBANG, Presiding Judge, Branch 22, Regional Trial Court, Imus,
Cavite; and ROSSANA HONRADO-TUA, Respondents.
DECISION
PERALTA, J.:
Before us is a petition for review on certiorari which seeks to annul the Decision1
dated October 28, 2005 of the Court of Appeals (CA) issued in CA-G.R. SP No. 89939.
On May 20, 2005, respondent Rossana Honrado-Tua (respondent) filed with the Regional Trial
Court (RTC) of Imus, Cavite a Verified Petition2 for herself and in behalf of her minor children,
Joshua Raphael, Jesse Ruth Lois, and J ezreel Abigail, for the issuance of a protection order,
pursuant to Republic Act (RA) 9262 or the Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act of
2004, against her husband, petitioner Ralph Tua. The case was docketed as Civil Case No. 0464-05
and raffled-off to Branch 22. Respondent claimed that she and her children had suffered from
petitioner’s abusive conduct; that petitioner had threatened to cause her and the children physical
harm for the purpose of controlling her actions or decisions; that she was actually deprived of
custody and access to her minor children; and, that she was threatened to be deprived of her and
her children’s financial support.
Respondent and petitioner were married on January 10, 1998 in Makati City. They have three
children, namely, Joshua Raphael born on February 9, 1999, Jesse Ruth Lois, born on June 27,
2000, and Jezreel Abigail, born on December 25, 2001. In her Affidavit3 attached to the petition,
respondent claimed, among others, that: there was a time when petitioner went to her room and
cocked his gun and pointed the barrel of his gun to his head as he wanted to convince her not to
proceed with the legal separation case she filed; she hid her fears although she was scared; there
was also an instance when petitioner fed her children with the fried chicken that her youngest
daughter had chewed and spat out; in order to stop his child from crying, petitioner would threaten
him with a belt; when she told petitioner that she felt unsafe and insecure with the latter's presence
and asked him to stop coming to the house as often as he wanted or she would apply for a
protection order, petitioner got furious and threatened her of withholding his financial support and
even held her by the nape and pushed her to lie flat on the bed; and, on May 4, 2005, while she was
at work, petitioner with companions went to her new home and forcibly took the children and refused
to give them back to her.
On May 23, 2005, the RTC issued a Temporary Protection Order (TPO),4 which we quote in full: