RA 9262 « USE RA 9262

RA 9262

Republic Act 9262

“Anti-Violence against Women and their Children Act of 2004″

Signed : July 28, 2004

Republic Act No. 9262 of 2004 or the Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children provides protection for abused women and their children against their partners or former male partners or those with whom they had or are having a dating relationship.

RA 9262 penalizes the commission of violence against women their children (VAWC) in the context of domestic violence or violence in intimate relationships. It defines VAWC as any act or a series of acts committed by any person against a woman who is his wife, former wife, or with whom the person has or had a sexual or dating relationship, or with whom he has a common child, or against her child whether legitimate or illegitimate, within or without the family abode, which results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological harm or suffering, or economic abuse including threats of such acts, battery, assault, coercion, harassment or arbitrary deprivation of liberty.

The Law also provides for the security of the complainant and her family through the availment of barangay, temporary, or permanent protection orders. The Law clearly identifies the duties of barangay officials, law enforcers, prosecutors, court personnel, healthcare providers and other government agencies and LGUs to provide the necessary protection and support services to VAWC victims. Furthermore, the Law recognizes “Battered Woman Syndrome” which refers to a scientifically defined pattern of psychological or behavioral symptoms found in women living in battering relationships as a result of cumulative abuse, as an acceptable defense for actions committed by the victim as a result of battering.

Violence against women is undeniably a worldwide phenomenon. The World Health Organization (WHO) accounts that half of all women who die from homicide are killed by their current or former husbands and partners.

In the Philippines alone, existing data indicate that violence against women is a pervasive social problem taking into account those cases that often go unreported due to the sensitivity of the issue. The Philippine National Police (PNP) documented a total of 1,100 to 7,383 cases of violence against women, even before the ratification of R.A. 9262, from 1996 to 2004. The highest record was in 2001 at 10,343. Cases reported included physical injuries, wife battering and rape (incestuous and attempted).

For the first three quarters of 2005, there were 4,240 violence against women cases reported to the PNP and 2,826 WEDC cases served by the DSWD. Both the police and social welfare records show that battering and rape were the most common types of reported violence against women cases.*

*As cited in Mallorca-Bernabe, Grace N., A Deeper Look At Violence Against Women (VAW): The Philippine Case (NCRFW), 2005