Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 28) – Marital infidelity is a form of psychological violence and can result in jail time for convicted offenders, the Supreme Court (SC) affirmed in a recent decision.
The SC ruling, penned by Chief Justice Diosdado Peralta on Sept. 8, convicted a man who left his wife and fathered three children with his mistress. He was sentenced to six months to eight years in prison and ordered to pay ₱100,000 as fine and ₱25,000 for moral damages.
The man was found to have violated Section 5(i) of Republic Act No. 9262 or the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004.
The provision particularly states crime of violence against women and their children is committed through acts that cause “mental or emotional anguish, public ridicule or humiliation to the woman or her child, including, but not limited to, repeated verbal and emotional abuse, and denial of financial support or custody of minor children of access to the woman’s child/children.”
“Marital infidelity, which is a form of psychological violence, is the proximate cause of (the wife’s) emotional anguish and mental suffering, to the point that even her health condition was adversely affected,” the SC decision reads.
The case stemmed from a concubinage case filed by the wife against her husband for committing psychological abuse due to his affair with a woman in Zamboanga, a relationship that produced three children. The complaint was dropped by the wife after her husband and mistress agreed not to see each other.
However, the husband returned to live with his mistress shortly after the settlement. The wife sought the help of the National Bureau of Investigation and even filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, arguing she believes the mistress was keeping her husband against his will.
The Court of Appeals (CA) dismissed the wife’s petition because it found out that the husband had left her on his own volition. The husband specifically said he “cannot stand her character anymore,” but he acknowledged their separation affected her emotionally and psychologically.
The wife filed a case before the regional trial court (RTC) against her husband, stating she was emotionally and psychologically hurt by his infidelity. In effect, she suffered from insomnia and asthma and took anti-depressant and sleeping pills.
The RTC sided with the wife, a ruling also affirmed by the CA after the husband decided to elevate it in the appellate court. He raised the CA decision to the SC.
In its decision, the higher magistrate upheld the previous CA ruling because of the wife’s “categorical and straightforward” testimony of suffering mental and emotional anguish from his husband’s infidelity.
“The prosecution has established beyond reasonable doubt that (the husband) committed the crime of psychological violence, through his acts of marital infidelity, which caused mental or emotional suffering on the part of (the wife),” the SC ruled.
