The Supreme Court has ruled that mothers who abuse their children can be offenders under the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children, or VAWC, Act and that fathers can apply for remedies under the law on behalf of the abused children.
In an 18-page decision written by Justice Mario V. Lopez, the SC en banc granted the petition for certiorari filed by Randy Michael Knutson on behalf of his minor daughter.
The petition challenged a ruling of the Taguig City Regional Trial Court which dismissed Knutson’s petition under the VAWC Act (Republic Act 9262) for the issuance of temporary and permanent protection orders against Rosalina, the mother of his daughter.
A permanent protection order in favor of the daughter was granted by the SC.
Records showed that on 7 December 2017, Knutson alleged before the lower court that Rosalina placed their daughter in a harmful environment “deleterious to the latter’s physical, emotional, moral and psychological development.”
The lower court dismissed Knutson’s petition on the ground that protection and custody orders under the VAWC Act could not be issued against a mother who abused her own child.
It added that the remedies under the law were not available to Knutson, the father, because he was not a “woman victim of violence.”
Abuse of discretion
A motion for reconsideration of the dismissal was filed by Knutson, but this was also denied by the Taguig RTC, which prompted him to file a petition for certiorari before the SC alleging grave abuse of discretion on the part of the RTC.
In granting Knutson’s petition, the Supreme Court ruled that while the VAWC Act excludes men as victims, this does not mean the law denies a father its remedies solely because of his gender or the fact that he is not a “woman victim of violence.”
The Court held that Section 9(b) of the VAWC Act explicitly allows “parents or guardians of the offended party” to file a petition for a protection order.
This provision was further incorporated in the law’s implementing rules as well as in AM No. 04-10-11-SC or the Rule on Violence Against Women and Children, the Court said.
The SC further explained that the law speaks in clear language when it uses the word “parents” pertaining to the father and the mother of the woman or child victim.
In issuing its ruling, the SC said it “refuses to be an instrument of injustice and mischief perpetrated against vulnerable sectors of society, such as children victims of violence.