Infidelity

Dear Atty. Angela,

My husband and I got married in 2019 and just a year ago, my husband started coming home late and became distant from me and our two children. One day, we spoke and said he no longer wanted to come home and wants to start a new life, asking that our marriage be nullified. I later discovered that my husband has already been living-in with another woman which I found out through a private investigator and was witnessed by my sister. Other friends of ours also told me that my husband has been introducing the other woman to them. This has caused very deep emotional pain and depression to me. Can I file a complaint under the Anti-VAWC law against him?

Cynthia

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Dear Cynthia,

Under Republic Act 9262 (the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act), marital infidelity alone is not automatically a crime. However, it becomes punishable as psychological violence when it causes proven mental or emotional suffering to the wife.

In the case of XXX v People, G.R. No. 268619 (13 January 2026), the Supreme Court (SC) affirmed a husband's conviction under Section 5(i) of RA 9262. In this case, the husband was charged with psychological violence before the Regional Trial Court (RTC).

During the trial, the wife told the court that her husband’s actions caused her severe mental and emotional suffering, and loss of self-esteem and dignity. She also said she experienced depression and attempted to take her own life several times. The psychologist testified that the wife had signs of depression, including feelings of inferiority, sleep problems, difficulty concentrating, and problems relating with others due to the abandonment of the family by the husband and his cohabitation with another woman.

It cited, “The hurt caused by XXX is indescribable and unquantifiable. His callous abandonment and betrayal of his vows to AAA affected not just their personal lives but the public image too of their family. Thus, as if adding salt to the wound, AAA had to nurse, not just her broken heart, she had to withstand too the scrutiny of the public and brave the circling talk of the breakdown of her marriage. It is not difficult to imagine the horrendous emotional turmoil and suffering that AAA had to endure, all because XXX chose to discard his family and be with his mistress.”

The SC here stressed that RA 9262 “is a landmark legislation meant to equalize the gender-based power imbalance that exists between men and women, recognizing that violence against women is a form of men's expression of control over women to retain the power in the relationship.”

Atty. Angela Antonio