Marital infidelity by itself is not punishable under the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act, but psychological violence that causes a wife mental or emotional suffering is, the Supreme Court has ruled.

In a 13 January 2026 decision penned by Associate Justice Amy Lazaro-Javier, the SC Second Division affirmed the conviction of a husband for violating Section 5(i) of Republic Act 9262, or the Anti-VAWC Act.

The couple married in 1999 and had two children. Their marital problems began in 2009 when the husband started coming home late and became distant from his family.

In January 2010, he sent his wife text messages saying he would no longer return home, wanted to start a new life alone and intended to seek the nullity of their marriage.

The wife later discovered that he was living with another woman. Her brother and a private investigator conducted surveillance and found the husband and the woman repeatedly entering and leaving the same house.

The wife testified that her husband’s actions caused severe mental and emotional suffering and a loss of self-esteem and dignity. She said she suffered depression and attempted to take her own life several times.

A psychologist who evaluated her found signs of depression, including sleep problems, difficulty concentrating and feelings of inferiority, and linked her emotional difficulties to her husband's abandonment and relationship with another woman.

The couple’s son also testified that he saw his mother crying and depressed for more than two years after his father left.

Both the Regional Trial Court and Court of Appeals found the husband guilty, a ruling upheld by the Supreme Court.

The SC stressed that an extramarital relationship may or may not cause mental or emotional anguish, depending on the circumstances.

Infidelity may form part of the acts constituting psychological violence, but prosecutors must still prove that the conduct caused mental or emotional suffering.

“All these pieces of evidence vividly paint a single picture: the intense and unbearable pain that [the wife] contended with for years as a result of [her husband’s] abandonment and infidelity,” the Court said.

The SC also rejected the husband's argument that his acquittal in a separate concubinage case should absolve him, explaining that concubinage and psychological violence under the Anti-VAWC Act are separate offenses with different elements.

The husband was sentenced to up to eight years in prison and ordered to pay a P100,000 fine and P30,000 in moral damages. He was also ordered to undergo psychological counseling or psychiatric treatment.

In a dissent, Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen agreed that infidelity alone does not constitute psychological violence but said prosecutors failed to sufficiently prove that the husband deliberately inflicted mental or emotional anguish on his wife.