Custody battle

Dear Atty. Angela,

I married my wife and we had two children before the relationship broke off and we parted ways. As I had to work abroad, the kids remained in her custody while I sent financial support. Upon returning back, I learned that my ex-wife became a drug addict and would often be found in casinos splurging money. She also sold the condominium unit and car I bought for her and the kids. Worse, she had been physically hurting our children where my daughters would tell me that their mom pointed a knife and threatened to kill them. I cannot accept this and I would like to protect my children. May I legally file protection and custody case against my ex-wife under Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children even when I am not a woman victim of violence?

Danny

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Dear Danny,

Republic Act 9262 allows the father of the offended party to apply for protection and custody orders. Section 9 (b) of RA No. 9262 explicitly allows “parents or guardians of the offended party” to file a petition for protection orders. The law categorically used the word “parents” which pertains to the father and the mother of the woman or child victim.

In the case of Knutson v. Sarmiento-Flores, G.R. No. 239215, 12 July 2022, the Court ruled that in RA 9262, the law criminalizes acts of violence against women and their children perpetrated by women’s intimate partners. However, the Court emphasized that the law does not single out the husband or father as the culprit. The statute used the gender-neutral word “person” as the offender which embraces any person of either sex. The offender may also include other persons who conspired to commit the violence.

Here, you are not asking for protection in your favor but filed the petition on behalf of your minor daughters who are in the custody of their mother who commits acts of violence against them. As such, you are legally entitled to seek protection on their behalf.

As wisely put, the Court “rightly refuses to be an instrument of injustice and public mischief perpetrated against vulnerable sectors of the society such as children victims of violence. The Court will not shirk its bounden duty to interpret the law in keeping with the cardinal principle that in enacting a statute, the legislature intended right and justice to prevail.”

Atty. Angela Antonio