SCRA Garcia V Drilon

2/28/2019 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 699
G.R. No. 179267. June 25, 2013.*
JESUS C. GARCIA, petitioner, vs. THE HONORABLE RAY

ALAN T. DRILON, Presiding Judge, Regional Trial Court-Branch
41, Bacolod City, and ROSALIE JAYPE-GARCIA, for herself and
in behalf of minor children, namely: JO-ANN, JOSEPH EDUARD,
JESSE ANTHONE, all surnamed GARCIA, respondents.
Remedial Law; Civil Procedure; Courts; Family Courts; Family

Courts Act of 1997 (R.A. No. 8369); It must be stressed that Family Courts
are special courts, of the same level as Regional Trial Courts. Under R.A.
8369, otherwise known as the “Family Courts Act of 1997,” family courts
have exclusive original jurisdiction to hear and decide cases of domestic
violence against women and children.—At the outset, it must be stressed
that Family Courts are special courts, of the same level as Regional Trial
Courts. Under R.A. 8369, otherwise known as the “Family Courts Act of
1997,” family courts have exclusive original jurisdiction to hear and decide
cases of domestic violence against women and children. In accordance with
said law, the Supreme Court designated from among the branches of the
Regional Trial Courts at least one Family Court in each of several key cities
identified. To achieve harmony with the first mentioned law, Section 7 of
R.A. 9262 now provides that Regional Trial Courts designated as Family
Courts shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction over cases of VAWC
defined under the latter law.
Same; Same; Same; Regional Trial Courts; It is settled that Regional
Trial Courts have jurisdiction to resolve the constitutionality of a statute,
“this authority being embraced in the general definition of the judicial
power to determine what are the valid and binding laws by the criterion of
their conformity to the fundamental law.”—Inspite of its designation as a
family court, the RTC of Bacolod City remains possessed of authority as a
court of general original jurisdiction to pass upon all kinds of cases whether
civil, criminal, special proceedings, land registration, guardianship,
naturalization, admiralty or insolvency. It is settled that RTCs have
jurisdiction to re-
_______________
* EN BANC.
353
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 353
Garcia vs. Drilon
solve the constitutionality of a statute, “this authority being embraced in the

general definition of the judicial power to determine what are the valid and
binding laws by the criterion of their conformity to the fundamental law.”
The Constitution vests the power of judicial review or the power to declare
the constitutionality or validity of a law, treaty, international or executive
agreement, presidential decree, order, instruction, ordinance, or regulation
not only in this Court, but in all RTCs. We said in J.M. Tuason and Co., Inc.
v. CA, 3 SCRA 696 (1961), that, “[p]lainly the Constitution contemplates
that the inferior courts should have jurisdiction in cases involving
constitutionality of any treaty or law, for it speaks of appellate review of
final judgments of inferior courts in cases where such constitutionality
happens to be in issue.”
Same; Violence Against Women and Children; Section 20 of A.M. No.
04-10-11-SC, the Rule on Violence Against Women and Their Children, lays
down a new kind of procedure requiring the respondent to file an opposition
to the petition and not an answer.—Section 20 of A.M. No. 04-10-11-SC,
the Rule on Violence Against Women and Their Children, lays down a new
kind of procedure requiring the respondent to file an opposition to the
petition and not an answer. Thus: SEC. 20. Opposition to petition.—(a) The
respondent may file an opposition to the petition which he himself shall
http://central.com.ph/sfsreader/session/000001693314572d66952742003600fb002c009e/t/?o=False 1/87
verify. It must be accompanied by the affidavits of witnesses and shall show
cause why a temporary or permanent protection order should not be issued;
(b) Respondent shall not include in the opposition any counterclaim,
cross-claim or third-party complaint, but any cause of action which could
be the subject thereof may be litigated in a separate civil action.
Same; Civil Procedure; Cause of Action; The unconstitutionality of a
statute is not a cause of action that could be the subject of a counterclaim,
cross-claim or a third-party complaint.—We cannot subscribe to the theory
espoused by petitioner that, since a counterclaim, cross-claim and third-
party complaint are to be excluded from the opposition, the issue of
constitutionality cannot likewise be raised therein. A counterclaim is
defined as any claim for money or other relief which a defending party may
have against an opposing party. A crossclaim, on the other hand, is any
claim by one party against a co-party arising out of the transaction or
occurrence that is the subject matter either of the original action or of a
counterclaim
354
354 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED
Garcia vs. Drilon
therein. Finally, a third-party complaint is a claim that a defending party

may, with leave of court, file against a person not a party to the action for
contribution, indemnity, subrogation or any other relief, in respect of his
opponent’s claim. As pointed out by Justice Teresita J. Leonardo-De Castro,
the unconstitutionality of a statute is not a cause of action that could be the
subject of a counterclaim, cross-claim or a third-party complaint. Therefore,
it is not prohibited from being raised in the opposition in view of the
familiar maxim expressio unius est exclusio alterius.
Same; Evidence; Constitutional Law; The question relative to the
constitutionality of a statute is one of law which does not need to be
supported by evidence.—That the proceedings in Civil Case No. 06-797 are
summary in nature should not have deterred petitioner from raising the same
in his Opposition. The question relative to the constitutionality of a statute is
one of law which does not need to be supported by evidence.
Same; Temporary Protection Order (TPO); If a temporary protection
order issued is due to expire, the trial court may extend or renew the said
order for a period of thirty (30) days each time until final judgment is
rendered.—To obviate potential dangers that may arise concomitant to the
conduct of a hearing when necessary, Section 26 (b) of A.M. No. 04-10-11-
SC provides that if a temporary protection order issued is due to expire, the
trial court may extend or renew the said order for a period of thirty (30) days
each time until final judgment is rendered. It may likewise modify the
extended or renewed temporary protection order as may be necessary to
meet the needs of the parties. With the private respondent given ample
protection, petitioner could proceed to litigate the constitutional issues,
without necessarily running afoul of the very purpose for the adoption of the
rules on summary procedure.
Same; Provisional Remedies; Injunction; Temporary Protection Order
(TPO); It bears stressing that protection orders are granted ex parte so as to
protect women and their children from acts of violence. To issue an
injunction against such orders will defeat the very purpose of the law
against Violence Against Women and Children.—As the rules stand, a
review of the case by appeal or certiorari before judgment is prohibited.
Moreover, if the appeal of a judgment granting permanent protection shall
not stay its enforcement, with more
355
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 355
Garcia vs. Drilon
reason that a TPO, which is valid only for thirty (30) days at a time, should
not be enjoined. The mere fact that a statute is alleged to be unconstitutional
or invalid, does not of itself entitle a litigant to have the same enjoined. In
Younger v. Harris, Jr., 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971), the Supreme Court of the
United States declared, thus: Federal injunctions against state criminal
statutes, either in their entirety or with respect to their separate and distinct
prohibitions, are not to be granted as a matter of course, even if such statutes
are unconstitutional. No citizen or member of the community is immune
from prosecution, in good faith, for his alleged criminal acts. The
imminence of such a prosecution even though alleged to be unauthorized
and, hence, unlawful is not alone ground for relief in equity which exerts its
extraordinary powers only to prevent irreparable injury to the plaintiff who
seeks its aid. (Citations omitted) The sole objective of injunctions is to
preserve the status quo until the trial court hears fully the merits of the case.
It bears stressing, however, that protection orders are granted ex parte so as
to protect women and their children from acts of violence. To issue an
injunction against such orders will defeat the very purpose of the law
against VAWC.
Constitutional Law; Separation of Powers; Courts are not concerned
with the wisdom, justice, policy, or expediency of a statute; By the principle
of separation of powers, it is the legislative that determines the necessity,
adequacy, wisdom and expediency of any law.—It is settled that courts are
not concerned with the wisdom, justice, policy, or expediency of a statute.
Hence, we dare not venture into the real motivations and wisdom of the
members of Congress in limiting the protection against violence and abuse
under R.A. 9262 to women and children only. No proper challenge on said
grounds may be entertained in this proceeding. Congress has made its
choice and it is not our prerogative to supplant this judgment. The choice
may be perceived as erroneous but even then, the remedy against it is to
seek its amendment or repeal by the legislative. By the principle of
separation of powers, it is the legislative that determines the necessity,
adequacy, wisdom and expediency of any law. We only step in when there is
a violation of the Constitution. However, none was sufficiently shown in
this case.
Same; Equal Protection of the Laws; Equal protection simply requires
that all persons or things similarly situated should be treated alike, both as
to rights conferred and responsibilities im-
356
Garcia vs. Drilon
posed.—Equal protection simply requires that all persons or things similarly

situated should be treated alike, both as to rights conferred and
responsibilities imposed. The oft-repeated disquisition in the early case of
Victoriano v. Elizalde Rope Workers’ Union, 59 SCRA 54 (1974), is
instructive: The guaranty of equal protection of the laws is not a guaranty of
equality in the application of the laws upon all citizens of the state. It is not,
therefore, a requirement, in order to avoid the constitutional prohibition
against inequality, that every man, woman and child should be affected alike
by a statute. Equality of operation of statutes does not mean indiscriminate
operation on persons merely as such, but on persons according to the
circumstances surrounding them. It guarantees equality, not identity of
rights. The Constitution does not require that things which are different in
fact be treated in law as though they were the same. The equal protection
clause does not forbid discrimination as to things that are different. It does
not prohibit legislation which is limited either in the object to which it is
directed or by the territory within which it is to operate. The equal
protection of the laws clause of the Constitution allows classification.
Classification in law, as in the other departments of knowledge or practice,
is the grouping of things in speculation or practice because they agree with
one another in certain particulars. A law is not invalid because of simple
inequality. The very idea of classification is that of inequality, so that it goes
without saying that the mere fact of inequality in no manner determines the
matter of constitutionality. All that is required of a valid classification is that
it be reasonable, which means that the classification should be based on
substantial distinctions which make for real differences; that it must be
germane to the purpose of the law; that it must not be limited to
existing conditions only; and that it must apply equally to each member
of the class. This Court has held that the standard is satisfied if the
classification or distinction is based on a reasonable foundation or rational
basis and is not palpably arbitrary.
Same; Same; The unequal power relationship between women and
men; the fact that women are more likely than men to be victims of violence;
and the widespread gender bias and prejudice against women all make for
real differences justifying the classification under the law.—The unequal
power relationship between women and men; the fact that women are more
likely than men to be victims of violence; and the widespread gender bias
and prejudice against women
357
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 357
Garcia vs. Drilon
all make for real differences justifying the classification under the law. As
Justice McIntyre succinctly states, “the accommodation of differences ... is
the essence of true equality.”
Same; Same; Gender-Based Violence; According to the Philippine
Commission on Women (the National Machinery for Gender Equality and
Women’s Empowerment), violence against women (VAW) is deemed to be
closely linked with the unequal power relationship between women and men
otherwise known as “gender-based violence.”—According to the Philippine
Commission on Women (the National Machinery for Gender Equality and
Women’s Empowerment), violence against women (VAW) is deemed to be
closely linked with the unequal power relationship between women and
men otherwise known as “gender-based violence.” Societal norms and
traditions dictate people to think men are the leaders, pursuers, providers,
and take on dominant roles in society while women are nurturers, men’s
companions and supporters, and take on subordinate roles in society. This
perception leads to men gaining more power over women. With power
comes the need to control to retain that power. And VAW is a form of men’s
expression of controlling women to retain power.
Same; Same; The enactment of R.A. 9262 aims to address the
discrimination brought about by biases and prejudices against women.—
The enactment of R.A. 9262 aims to address the discrimination brought
about by biases and prejudices against women. As emphasized by the
CEDAW Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women,
addressing or correcting discrimination through specific measures focused
on women does not discriminate against men. Petitioner’s contention,
therefore, that R.A. 9262 is discriminatory and that it is an “anti-male,”
“husband-bashing,” and “hate-men” law deserves scant consideration. As a
State Party to the CEDAW, the Philippines bound itself to take all
appropriate measures “to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct
of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices
and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the
inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for
men and women.” Justice Puno correctly pointed out that “(t)he paradigm
shift changing the character of domestic violence from a private affair to a
public offense will require the development
358
Garcia vs. Drilon
of a distinct mindset on the part of the police, the prosecution and the
judges.”
Same; Same; The distinction between men and women is germane to
the purpose of R.A. 9262, which is to address violence committed against
women and children, spelled out in its Declaration of Policy.—The
distinction between men and women is germane to the purpose of R.A.
9262, which is to address violence committed against women and children,
spelled out in its Declaration of Policy, as follows: SEC. 2. Declaration of
Policy.—It is hereby declared that the State values the dignity of women
and children and guarantees full respect for human rights. The State also
recognizes the need to protect the family and its members particularly
women and children, from violence and threats to their personal safety and
security. Towards this end, the State shall exert efforts to address violence
committed against women and children in keeping with the fundamental
freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution and the provisions of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Convention on the Rights
of the Child and other international human rights instruments of which the
Philippines is a party.
Same; Same; The application of R.A. 9262 is not limited to the existing
conditions when it was promulgated, but to future conditions as well, for as
long as the safety and security of women and their children are threatened
by violence and abuse.—The application of R.A. 9262 is not limited to the
existing conditions when it was promulgated, but to future conditions as
well, for as long as the safety and security of women and their children are
threatened by violence and abuse. R.A. 9262 applies equally to all women
and children who suffer violence and abuse.
Statutes; An act will not be held invalid merely because it might have
been more explicit in its wordings or detailed in its provisions.—There is
nothing in the definition of VAWC that is vague and ambiguous that will
confuse petitioner in his defense. The acts enumerated above are easily
understood and provide adequate contrast between the innocent and the
prohibited acts. They are worded with sufficient definiteness that persons of
ordinary intelligence can understand what conduct is prohibited, and need
not guess at its meaning nor differ in its application. Yet, petitioner insists
that
359
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 359
Garcia vs. Drilon
phrases like “depriving or threatening to deprive the woman or her child of a

legal right,” “solely controlling the conjugal or common money or
properties,” “marital infidelity,” and “causing mental or emotional anguish”
are so vague that they make every quarrel a case of spousal abuse. However,
we have stressed that the “vagueness” doctrine merely requires a reasonable
degree of certainty for the statute to be upheld — not absolute precision or
mathematical exactitude, as petitioner seems to suggest. Flexibility, rather
than meticulous specificity, is permissible as long as the metes and bounds
of the statute are clearly delineated. An act will not be held invalid merely
because it might have been more explicit in its wordings or detailed in its
provisions.
Criminal Law; Violence Against Women and Children; Conspiracy;
While the law provides that the offender be related or connected to the
victim by marriage, former marriage, or a sexual or dating relationship, it
does not preclude the application of the principle of conspiracy under the
Revised Penal Code (RPC).—VAWC may likewise be committed “against a
woman with whom the person has or had a sexual or dating relationship.”
Clearly, the use of the gender-neutral word “person” who has or had a
sexual or dating relationship with the woman encompasses even lesbian
relationships. Moreover, while the law provides that the offender be related
or connected to the victim by marriage, former marriage, or a sexual or
dating relationship, it does not preclude the application of the principle of
conspiracy under the Revised Penal Code (RPC). Thus, in the case of Go-
Tan v. Spouses Tan, 567 SCRA 231 (2008), the parents-in-law of Sharica
Mari L. Go-Tan, the victim, were held to be proper respondents in the case
filed by the latter upon the allegation that they and their son (Go-Tan’s
husband) had community of design and purpose in tormenting her by giving
her insufficient financial support; harassing and pressuring her to be ejected
from the family home; and in repeatedly abusing her verbally, emotionally,
mentally and physically.
Remedial Law; Temporary Protection Order; Words and Phrases; A
protection order is an order issued to prevent further acts of violence
against women and their children, their family or household members, and
to grant other necessary reliefs; The rules require that petitions for
protection order be in writing, signed and verified by the petitioner thereby
undertaking full responsibility, criminal or
360
Garcia vs. Drilon
civil, for every allegation therein.—A protection order is an order issued to

prevent further acts of violence against women and their children, their
family or household members, and to grant other necessary reliefs. Its
purpose is to safeguard the offended parties from further harm, minimize
any disruption in their daily life and facilitate the opportunity and ability to
regain control of their life. “The scope of reliefs in protection orders is
broadened to ensure that the victim or offended party is afforded all the
remedies necessary to curtail access by a perpetrator to the victim. This
serves to safeguard the victim from greater risk of violence; to accord the
victim and any designated family or household member safety in the family
residence, and to prevent the perpetrator from committing acts that
jeopardize the employment and support of the victim. It also enables the
court to award temporary custody of minor children to protect the children
from violence, to prevent their abduction by the perpetrator and to ensure
their financial support.” The rules require that petitions for protection order
be in writing, signed and verified by the petitioner thereby undertaking full
responsibility, criminal or civil, for every allegation therein. Since “time is
of the essence in cases of VAWC if further violence is to be prevented,” the
court is authorized to issue ex parte a TPO after raffle but before notice and
hearing when the life, limb or property of the victim is in jeopardy and there
is reasonable ground to believe that the order is necessary to protect the
victim from the immediate and imminent danger of VAWC or to prevent
such violence, which is about to recur.
Same; Same; Just like a writ of preliminary attachment which is issued
without notice and hearing because the time in which the hearing will take
could be enough to enable the defendant to abscond or dispose of his
property, in the same way, the victim of Violence Against Women and
Children may already have suffered harrowing experiences in the hands of
her tormentor, and possibly even death, if notice and hearing were required
before such acts could be prevented.—The grant of a TPO ex parte cannot,
therefore, be challenged as violative of the right to due process. Just like a
writ of preliminary attachment which is issued without notice and hearing
because the time in which the hearing will take could be enough to enable
the defendant to abscond or dispose of his property, in the same way, the
victim of VAWC may already have suffered harrowing experiences in the
hands of her tormentor, and possibly even death, if notice and hearing were
required before such acts could be pre-
361
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 361
Garcia vs. Drilon
vented. It is a constitutional commonplace that the ordinary requirements of

procedural due process must yield to the necessities of protecting vital
public interests, among which is protection of women and children from
violence and threats to their personal safety and security. It should be
pointed out that when the TPO is issued ex parte, the court shall likewise
order that notice be immediately given to the respondent directing him to
file an opposition within five (5) days from service. Moreover, the court
shall order that notice, copies of the petition and TPO be served
immediately on the respondent by the court sheriffs. The TPOs are initially
effective for thirty (30) days from service on the respondent. Where no TPO
is issued ex parte, the court will nonetheless order the immediate issuance
and service of the notice upon the respondent requiring him to file an
opposition to the petition within five (5) days from service. The date of the
preliminary conference and hearing on the merits shall likewise be indicated
on the notice.
Same; Same; The respondent of a petition for protection order should
be apprised of the charges imputed to him and afforded an opportunity to
present his side; “To be heard” does not only mean verbal arguments in
court; one may be heard also through pleadings.—It is clear from the
foregoing rules that the respondent of a petition for protection order should
be apprised of the charges imputed to him and afforded an opportunity to
present his side. Thus, the fear of petitioner of being “stripped of family,
property, guns, money, children, job, future employment and reputation, all
in a matter of seconds, without an inkling of what happened” is a mere
product of an overactive imagination. The essence of due process is to be
found in the reasonable opportunity to be heard and submit any evidence
one may have in support of one’s defense. “To be heard” does not only
mean verbal arguments in court; one may be heard also through pleadings.
Where opportunity to be heard, either through oral arguments or pleadings,
is accorded, there is no denial of procedural due process.
Same; Same; Indubitably, petitioner may be removed and excluded
from private respondent’s residence, regardless of ownership, only
temporarily for the purpose of protecting the latter. Such removal and
exclusion may be permanent only where no property rights are violated.—
Petitioner next laments that the removal and exclusion of the respondent in
the VAWC case from the residence of the
362
Garcia vs. Drilon
victim, regardless of ownership of the residence, is virtually a “blank check”

issued to the wife to claim any property as her conjugal home. The wording
of the pertinent rule, however, does not by any stretch of the imagination
suggest that this is so. It states: SEC. 11. Reliefs available to the offended
party.—The protection order shall include any, some or all of the following
reliefs: x x x x (c) Removing and excluding the respondent from the
residence of the offended party, regardless of ownership of the residence,
either temporarily for the purpose of protecting the offended party, or
permanently where no property rights are violated. If the respondent must
remove personal effects from the residence, the court shall direct a law
enforcement agent to accompany the respondent to the residence, remain
there until the respondent has gathered his things and escort him from the
residence; x x x x Indubitably, petitioner may be removed and excluded
from private respondent’s residence, regardless of ownership, only
temporarily for the purpose of protecting the latter. Such removal and
exclusion may be permanent only where no property rights are violated.
How then can the private respondent just claim any property and appropriate
it for herself, as petitioner seems to suggest?
Same; Same; Under Section 23(c) of A.M. No. 04-10-11-SC, the court
shall not refer the Violence Against Women and Children case or any issue
thereof to a mediator.—Under Section 23(c) of A.M. No. 04-10-11-SC, the
court shall not refer the case or any issue thereof to a mediator. The reason
behind this provision is well-explained by the Commentary on Section 311
of the Model Code on Domestic and Family Violence as follows: This
section prohibits a court from ordering or referring parties to mediation in a
proceeding for an order for protection. Mediation is a process by which
parties in equivalent bargaining positions voluntarily reach consensual
agreement about the issue at hand. Violence, however, is not a subject for
compromise. A process which involves parties mediating the issue of
violence implies that the victim is somehow at fault. In addition, mediation
of issues in a proceeding for an order of protection is problematic because
the petitioner is frequently unable to participate equally with the person
against whom the protection order has been sought.
Same; Same; Barangay Protection Order (BPO); The Barangay
Protection Order issued by the Punong Barangay or, in his unavail-
363
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 363
Garcia vs. Drilon
ability, by any available Barangay Kagawad, merely orders the perpetrator

to desist from (a) causing physical harm to the woman or her child; and (2)
threatening to cause the woman or her child physical harm. Such function of
the Punong Barangay is, thus, purely executive in nature, in pursuance of
his duty under the Local Government Code to “enforce all laws and
ordinances,” and to “maintain public order in the barangay.”—Judicial
power includes the duty of the courts of justice to settle actual controversies
involving rights which are legally demandable and enforceable, and to
determine whether or not there has been a grave abuse of discretion
amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction on the part of any branch or
instrumentality of the Government. On the other hand, executive power “is
generally defined as the power to enforce and administer the laws. It is the
power of carrying the laws into practical operation and enforcing their due
observance.” As clearly delimited by the aforequoted provision, the BPO
issued by the Punong Barangay or, in his unavailability, by any available
Barangay Kagawad, merely orders the perpetrator to desist from (a) causing
physical harm to the woman or her child; and (2) threatening to cause the
woman or her child physical harm. Such function of the Punong Barangay
is, thus, purely executive in nature, in pursuance of his duty under the Local
Government Code to “enforce all laws and ordinances,” and to “maintain
public order in the barangay.” We have held that “(t)he mere fact that an
officer is required by law to inquire into the existence of certain facts and to
apply the law thereto in order to determine what his official conduct shall be
and the fact that these acts may affect private rights do not constitute an
exercise of judicial powers.”
Statutes; Before a statute or its provisions duly challenged are voided,
an unequivocal breach or a clear conflict with the Constitution, not merely a
doubtful or argumentative one, must be demonstrated in such a manner as
to leave no doubt in the mind of the Court.—Before a statute or its
provisions duly challenged are voided, an unequivocal breach or a clear
conflict with the Constitution, not merely a doubtful or argumentative one,
must be demonstrated in such a manner as to leave no doubt in the mind of
the Court. In other words, the grounds for nullity must be beyond reasonable
doubt. In the instant case, however, no concrete evidence and convincing
arguments were presented by petitioner to warrant a declaration of the
unconstitutionality of R.A. 9262, which is an act of Congress and signed
into law by the highest officer of the co-equal
364
Garcia vs. Drilon
executive department. As we said in Estrada v. Sandiganbayan, 369 SCRA

394 (2001), courts must assume that the legislature is ever conscious of the
borders and edges of its plenary powers, and passed laws with full
knowledge of the facts and for the purpose of promoting what is right and
advancing the welfare of the majority.
LEONARDO-DE CASTRO, J., Concurring Opinion:
Remedial Law; Civil Procedure; Courts; Regional Trial Courts; View
that the Regional Trial Court (RTC), designated as a Family Court, is
vested with jurisdiction to decide issues of constitutionality of a law, and
that the constitutionality of Republic Act No. 9262 can be resolved in a
summary proceeding, in accordance with the rule that the question of
constitutionality must be raised at the earliest opportunity, otherwise it may
not be considered on appeal.—I agree with Justice Bernabe that the RTC,
designated as a Family Court, is vested with jurisdiction to decide issues of
constitutionality of a law, and that the constitutionality of Republic Act No.
9262 can be resolved in a summary proceeding, in accordance with the rule
that the question of constitutionality must be raised at the earliest
opportunity, otherwise it may not be considered on appeal. Section 20 of
A.M. No. 04-10-11-SC, the Rule on Republic Act No. 9262 provides: Sec.
20. Opposition to Petition.—(a) The respondent may file an opposition to
the petition which he himself shall verify. It must be accompanied by the
affidavits of witnesses and shall show cause why a temporary or permanent
protection order should not be issued. (b) Respondent shall not include in
the opposition any counterclaim, cross-claim or third-party complaint, but
any cause of action which could be the subject thereof may be litigated
in a separate civil action.
Same; Same; Same; Same; Temporary Protection Order; View that the
alleged unconstitutionality of Republic Act No. 9262 is a matter that would
have prevented the trial court from granting the petition for protection order
against the petitioner.—The alleged unconstitutionality of Republic Act No.
9262 is a matter that would have prevented the trial court from granting the
petition for protection order against the petitioner. Thus, petitioner should
have raised it in his Opposition as a defense against the issuance of a
protection order against him.
365
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 365
Garcia vs. Drilon
Same; Same; Same; Same; Same; View that an action questioning the
constitutionality of the law cannot be filed separately even with another
branch of the RTC. This is not technically feasible because there will be no
justiciable controversy or an independent cause of action that can be the
subject of such separate action if it were not for the issuance of the
Temporary Protection Order against the petitioner.—For all intents and
purposes, the Petition for Prohibition filed before the Court of Appeals was
precipitated by and was ultimately directed against the issuance of the TPO,
an interlocutory order, which under Section 22(j) of A.M. No. 04-10-11-SC
is a prohibited pleading. An action questioning the constitutionality of the
law also cannot be filed separately even with another branch of the RTC.
This is not technically feasible because there will be no justiciable
controversy or an independent cause of action that can be the subject of such
separate action if it were not for the issuance of the TPO against the
petitioner. Thus, the controversy, subject of a separate action, whether
before the Court of Appeals or the RTC, would still have to be the issuance
of the TPO, which is the subject of another case in the RTC.
Statutes; View that the challenge to the constitutionality of the law must
be raised at the earliest opportunity.—The challenge to the constitutionality
of the law must be raised at the earliest opportunity. In Dasmariñas Water
District v. Monterey Foods Corporation, 565 SCRA 624 (2008), we said: A
law is deemed valid unless declared null and void by a competent court;
more so when the issue has not been duly pleaded in the trial court. The
question of constitutionality must be raised at the earliest opportunity. x x x.
The settled rule is that courts will not anticipate a question of constitutional
law in advance of the necessity of deciding it. (Citation omitted.) This Court
held that such opportunity is in the pleadings before a competent court that
can resolve it, such that “if it is not raised in the pleadings, it cannot be
considered at the trial, and, if not considered at the trial, it cannot be
considered on appeal.” The decision upon the constitutional question is
necessary to determine whether the TPO should be issued against petitioner.
Such question should have been raised at the earliest opportunity as an
affirmative defense in the Opposition filed with the RTC handling the
protection order proceedings, which was the competent court to pass upon
the constitutional issue.
366
Garcia vs. Drilon
Remedial Law; Civil Procedure; Multiplicity of Suits; View that the

filing of a separate action before the Court of Appeals or the RTC for the
declaration of unconstitutionality of Republic Act No. 9262 would result to
multiplicity of suits. It is clear that the issues of constitutionality and
propriety of issuing a protection order raised by petitioner are inextricably
intertwined.—The filing of a separate action before the Court of Appeals or
the RTC for the declaration of unconstitutionality of Republic Act No. 9262
would result to multiplicity of suits. It is clear that the issues of
constitutionality and propriety of issuing a protection order raised by
petitioner are inextricably intertwined. Another court, whether it is an
appellate court or a trial court, cannot resolve the constitutionality question
in the separate action without affecting the petition for the issuance of a
TPO. Bringing a separate action for the resolution of the issue of
constitutionality will result in an unresolved prejudicial question to the
validity of issuing a protection order. If the proceedings for the protection
order is not suspended, it does create the danger of having inconsistent and
conflicting judgments between the two separate courts, whether of the same
or different levels in the judicial hierarchy. These two judgments would
eventually be the subject of separate motions for reconsideration, separate
appeals, and separate petitions for review before this Court – the exact
scenario the policy against multiplicity of suits is avoiding. As we
previously held, “the law and the courts frown upon split jurisdiction and
the resultant multiplicity of actions.”
Procedural Rules and Technicalities; View that when public interest
requires the resolution of the constitutional issue raised, and in keeping with
the Supreme Court’s duty of determining whether other agencies or even co-
equal branches of government have remained within the limits of the
Constitution and have not abused the discretion given them, the Court may
brush aside technicalities of procedure and resolve the constitutional issue.
—Notwithstanding my position that the Court of Appeals properly
dismissed the Petition for Prohibition because of petitioner’s failure to raise
the issue of constitutionality of Republic Act No. 9262 at the earliest
opportunity, I concur that the Court, in the exercise of its sound discretion,
should still pass upon the said issue in the present Petition. Notable is the
fact that not only the petitioner, but the private respondent as well, pray that
the Court resolve the constitutional issue considering its novelty and
paramount importance. Indeed, when public interest
367
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 367
Garcia vs. Drilon
requires the resolution of the constitutional issue raised, and in keeping with
this Court’s duty of determining whether other agencies or even co-equal
branches of government have remained within the limits of the Constitution
and have not abused the discretion given them, the Court may brush aside
technicalities of procedure and resolve the constitutional issue.
Constitutional Law; Equal Protection of the Law; View that recent
Philippine jurisprudence has recognized the need to apply different
standards of scrutiny in testing the constitutionality of classifications.—
Recent Philippine jurisprudence has recognized the need to apply different
standards of scrutiny in testing the constitutionality of classifications. In
British American Tobacco v. Camacho, 585 SCRA 36 (2009), this Court
held that since the case therein neither involved a suspect classification nor
impinged on a fundamental right, then “the rational basis test was properly
applied to gauge the constitutionality of the assailed law in the face of an
equal protection challenge.”
Same; Same; View that in the context of the constitutional policy to
“ensure the fundamental equality before the law of women and men” the
level of scrutiny applicable, to test whether or not the classification in
Republic Act No. 9262 violates the equal protection clause, is the middle-
tier scrutiny or the intermediate standard of judicial review.—Since
statutory remedies accorded to women are not made available to men, when
the reality is that there are men, regardless of their number, who are also
suffering from domestic violence, the rational basis test may be too wide
and liberal to justify the statutory classification which in effect allows
different treatment of men who are similarly situated. In the context of the
constitutional policy to “ensure the fundamental equality before the law of
women and men” the level of scrutiny applicable, to test whether or not the
classification in Republic Act No. 9262 violates the equal protection clause,
is the middle-tier scrutiny or the intermediate standard of judicial
review. To survive intermediate review, the classification in the challenged
law must (1) serve important governmental objectives, and (2) be
substantially related to the achievement of those objectives.
Same; Same; View that by constitutional mandate, the Philippines is
committed to ensure that human rights and fundamental
368
Garcia vs. Drilon
freedoms are fully enjoyed by everyone.—By constitutional mandate, the

Philippines is committed to ensure that human rights and fundamental
freedoms are fully enjoyed by everyone. It was one of the countries that
voted in favor of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR),
which was a mere two years after it gained independence from the United
States of America. In addition, the Philippines is a signatory to many United
Nations human rights treaties such as the Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights, the Convention Against Torture, and the Convention on
the Rights of the Child, among others.
Same; Same; View that the Declaration of Policy in Republic Act No.
9262 enunciates the purpose of the said law, which is to fulfill the
government’s obligation to safeguard the dignity and human rights of
women and children by providing effective remedies against domestic
violence or physical, psychological, and other forms of abuse perpetuated
by the husband, partner, or father of the victim.—The Declaration of Policy
in Republic Act No. 9262 enunciates the purpose of the said law, which is to
fulfill the government’s obligation to safeguard the dignity and human rights
of women and children by providing effective remedies against domestic
violence or physical, psychological, and other forms of abuse perpetuated
by the husband, partner, or father of the victim. The said law is also viewed
within the context of the constitutional mandate to ensure gender equality,
which is quoted as follows: Section 14. The State recognizes the role of
women in nationbuilding, and shall ensure the fundamental equality before
the law of women and men.
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW); Republic Act No. 9262; View that Republic Act No. 9262
can be viewed therefore as the Philippines’ compliance with the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW), which is committed to condemn discrimination against women
and directs its members to undertake, without delay, all appropriate means
to eliminate discrimination against women in all forms both in law and in
practice.—It has been acknowledged that “gender-based violence is a form
of discrimination that seriously inhibits women’s ability to enjoy rights and
freedoms on a basis of equality with men.” Republic
369
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 369
Garcia vs. Drilon
Act No. 9262 can be viewed therefore as the Philippines’ compliance with
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW), which is committed to condemn discrimination against
women and directs its members to undertake, without delay, all appropriate
means to eliminate discrimination against women in all forms both in law
and in practice. Known as the International Bill of Rights of Women, the
CEDAW is the central and most comprehensive document for the
advancement of the welfare of women. It brings the women into the focus of
human rights concerns, and its spirit is rooted in the goals of the UN: to
reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the
human person, in the equal rights of men and women. The CEDAW, in its
preamble, explicitly acknowledges the existence of extensive
discrimination against women, and emphasized that such is a violation
of the principles of equality of rights and respect for human dignity.
Constitutional Law; Equal Protection of the Law; Gender-Based
Violence; As one of the country’s pervasive social problems, violence
against women is deemed to be closely linked with the unequal power
relationship between women and men and is otherwise known as “gender-
based violence.”—As one of the country’s pervasive social problems,
violence against women is deemed to be closely linked with the unequal
power relationship between women and men and is otherwise known as
“gender-based violence.” Violent acts towards women has been the subject
of an examination on a historic world-wide perspective. The exhaustive
study of a foreign history professor noted that “[f]rom the earliest
civilizations on, the subjugation of women, in the form of violence, were
facts of life,” as three great bodies of thought, namely: Judeo-Christian
religious ideas; Greek philosophy; and the Common Law Legal Code,
which have influenced western society’s views and treatment of women, all
“assumed patriarchy as natural; that is, male domination stemming from the
view of male superiority.” It cited 18th century legal expert William
Blackstone, who explained that the common law doctrine of coverture
reflected the theological assumption that husband and wife were ‘one body’
before God; thus “they were ‘one person’ under the law, and that one person
was the husband,” a concept that evidently found its way in some of our
Civil Code provisions prior to the enactment of the Family Code.
370
Garcia vs. Drilon
Criminal Law; Violence Against Women and Children (R.A. No. 9262);
View that although there exists other laws on violence against women in the
Philippines, Republic Act No. 9262 deals with the problem of violence
within the family and intimate relationships, which deserves special
attention because it occurs in situations or places where women and
children should feel most safe and secure but are actually not.—Preventing
violence against women and children through their availment of special
legal remedies, serves the governmental objectives of protecting the dignity
and human rights of every person, preserving the sanctity of family life, and
promoting gender equality and empowering women. Although there exists
other laws on violence against women in the Philippines, Republic Act No.
9262 deals with the problem of violence within the family and intimate
relationships, which deserves special attention because it occurs in
situations or places where women and children should feel most safe and
secure but are actually not. The law provides the widest range of reliefs for
women and children who are victims of violence, which are often reported
to have been committed not by strangers, but by a father or a husband or a
person with whom the victim has or had a sexual or dating relationship.
Aside from filing a criminal case in court, the law provides potent legal
remedies to the victims that theretofore were not available. The law
recognizes, with valid factual support based on statistics that women and
children are the most vulnerable victims of violence, and therefore need
legal intervention. On the other hand, there is a dearth of empirical basis to
anchor a conclusion that men need legal protection from violence
perpetuated by women.
Temporary Protection Order (TPO); View that the law permits the
issuance of protection orders and the granting of certain reliefs to women
victims, even without a hearing; Despite the ex parte issuance of these
protection orders, the temporary nature of these remedies allow them to be
availed of by the victim without violating the offender’s right to due process
as it is only when a full-blown hearing has been done that a permanent
protection order may be issued.—The law takes into account the pervasive
vulnerability of women and children, and the seriousness and urgency of the
situation, which, in the language of the law result 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. Hence, the law permits the issuance of
371
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 371
Garcia vs. Drilon
protection orders and the granting of certain reliefs to women victims, even
without a hearing. The law has granted authority for barangay officials to
issue a protection order against the offender, based on the victim’s
application. The RTC may likewise grant an application for a temporary
protection order (TPO) and provide other reliefs, also on the mere basis of
the application. Despite the ex parte issuance of these protection orders, the
temporary nature of these remedies allow them to be availed of by the
victim without violating the offender’s right to due process as it is only
when a full-blown hearing has been done that a permanent protection order
may be issued. Thus, these remedies are suitable, reasonable, and justified.
More importantly, they serve the objectives of the law by providing the
victims necessary immediate protection from the violence they perceive as
threats to their personal safety and security. This translates to the fulfillment
of other governmental objectives as well. By assuring the victims instant
relief from their situation, they are consequently empowered and restored to
a place of dignity and equality. Such is embodied in the purpose to be served
by a protection order.
Criminal Law; Violence Against Women and Children (R.A. No. 9262);
View that in furtherance of the governmental objectives, especially that of
protecting human rights, violence against women and children under this
Act has been classified as a public offense, making its prosecution
independent of the victim’s initial participation.—In furtherance of the
governmental objectives, especially that of protecting human rights,
violence against women and children under this Act has been classified as a
public offense, making its prosecution independent of the victim’s initial
participation. Verily, the classification made in Republic Act No. 9262 is
substantially related to the important governmental objectives of
valuing every person’s dignity, respecting human rights, safeguarding
family life, protecting children, promoting gender equality, and
empowering women.
Constitutional Law; Equal Protection of the Law; View that the equal
protection clause in our Constitution does not guarantee an absolute
prohibition against classification.—The equal protection clause in our
Constitution does not guarantee an absolute prohibition against
classification. The non-identical treatment of women and men under
Republic Act No. 9262 is justified to put them on
372
Garcia vs. Drilon
equal footing and to give substance to the policy and aim of the state to
ensure the equality of women and men in light of the biological, historical,
social, and culturally endowed differences between men and women.
Republic Act No. 9262, by affording special and exclusive protection to
women and children, who are vulnerable victims of domestic violence,
undoubtedly serves the important governmental objectives of protecting
human rights, insuring gender equality, and empowering women. The
gender-based classification and the special remedies prescribed by said law
in favor of women and children are substantially related, in fact essentially
necessary, to achieve such objectives. Hence, said Act survives the
intermediate review or middle-tier judicial scrutiny. The gender-based
classification therein is therefore not violative of the equal protection clause
embodied in the 1987 Constitution.
Violence Against Women and Children; Temporary Protection Order;
View that a protection order is issued under Republic Act No. 9262 for the
purpose of preventing further acts of violence against a woman or her child.
—A protection order is issued under Republic Act No. 9262 for the purpose
of preventing further acts of violence against a woman or her child. The
circumstances surrounding the availment thereof are often attended by
urgency; thus, women and child victims must have immediate and
uncomplicated access to the same.
Same; Same; Police Power; View that Republic Act No. 9262 and its
implementing regulations were enacted and promulgated in the exercise of
that pervasive, sovereign power of the State to protect the safety, health, and
general welfare and comfort of the public (in this case, a particular sector
thereof), as well as the protection of human life, commonly designated as
the police power.—The ex parte issuance of the TPO does not make it
unconstitutional. Procedural due process refers to the method or manner by
which the law is enforced. It consists of the two basic rights of notice and
hearing, as well as the guarantee of being heard by an impartial and
competent tribunal. However, it is a constitutional commonplace that the
ordinary requirements of procedural due process yield to the necessities of
protecting vital public interests like those involved herein. Republic Act No.
9262 and its implementing regulations were enacted and promulgated in the
exercise of that pervasive, sovereign power of the State to protect the safety,
health, and general welfare and comfort
373
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 373
Garcia vs. Drilon
of the public (in this case, a particular sector thereof), as well as the
protection of human life, commonly designated as the police power.
Barangay Protection Order (BPO); Words and Phrases; View that a
Barangay Protection Order (BPO) refers to the protection order issued by
the Punong Barangay, or in his absence the Barangay Kagawad, ordering
the perpetrator to desist from committing acts of violence against the family
or household members particularly women and their children.—A
Barangay Protection Order (BPO) refers to the protection order issued by
the Punong Barangay, or in his absence the Barangay Kagawad, ordering
the perpetrator to desist from committing acts of violence against the family
or household members particularly women and their children. The authority
of barangay officials to issue a BPO is conferred under Section 14 of
Republic Act No. 9262: SEC. 14. Barangay Protection Orders (BPOs);
Who May Issue and How.—Barangay Protection Orders (BPOs) refer to the
protection order issued by the Punong Barangay ordering the perpetrator to
desist from committing acts under Section 5 (a) and (b) of this Act. A
Punong Barangay who receives applications for a BPO shall issue the
protection order to the applicant on the date of filing after ex parte
determination of the basis of the application. If the Punong Barangay is
unavailable to act on the application for a BPO, the application shall be
acted upon by any available Barangay Kagawad. If the BPO is issued by a
Barangay Kagawad the order must be accompanied by an attestation by the
Barangay Kagawad that the Punong Barangay was unavailable at the time
for the issuance of the BPO. BPOs shall be effective for fifteen (15) days.
Immediately after the issuance of an ex parte BPO, the Punong Barangay or
Barangay Kagawad shall personally serve a copy of the same on the
respondent, or direct any barangay official to effect is personal service. The
parties may be accompanied by a non-lawyer advocate in any proceeding
before the Punong Barangay.
Same; View that in the case of a Barangay Protection Order, it is a
mere provisional remedy under Republic Act No. 9262, meant to address the
pressing need of the victims for instant protection; Under the Implementing
Rules of Republic Act No. 9262, the issuance of a Barangay Protection
Order or the pendency of an application for a Barangay Protection Order
shall not preclude the victim from applying for, or the court from granting, a
Temporary Protection Order or Permanent Protection Order.—While
judicial power rests exclusively
374
Garcia vs. Drilon
in the judiciary, it may be conceded that the legislature may confer on

administrative boards or bodies, or even particular government officials,
quasi-judicial power involving the exercise of judgment and discretion, as
incident to the performance of administrative functions. But in so doing, the
legislature must state its intention in express terms that would leave no
doubt, as even such quasi-judicial prerogatives must be limited, if they are
to be valid, only to those incidental to or in connection with the performance
of administrative duties, which do not amount to conferment of jurisdiction
over a matter exclusively vested in the courts. In the case of a BPO, it is a
mere provisional remedy under Republic Act No. 9262, meant to address
the pressing need of the victims for instant protection. However, it does not
take the place of appropriate judicial proceedings and remedies that provide
a more effective and comprehensive protection to the victim. In fact, under
the Implementing Rules of Republic Act No. 9262, the issuance of a BPO or
the pendency of an application for a BPO shall not preclude the victim from
applying for, or the court from granting, a TPO or PPO. Where a TPO has
already been granted by any court, the barangay official may no longer
issue a BPO. The same Implementing Rules also require that within twenty-
four (24) hours after the issuance of a BPO, the barangay official shall
assist the victim in filing an application for a TPO or PPO with the nearest
court in the victim’s place of residence. If there is no Family Court or RTC,
the application may be filed in the Municipal Trial Court, the Municipal
Circuit Trial Court or the Metropolitan Trial Court.
BRION, J., Concurring Opinion:
Criminal Law; Violence Against Women and Children; View that
Congress found that domestic and other forms of violence against women
and children contribute to the failure to unify and strengthen family ties,
thereby impeding the State’s mandate to actively promote the family’s total
development.—From the terms of the law, I find it plain that Congress
enacted R.A. No. 9262 as a measure intended to strengthen the family.
and children contribute to the failure to unify and strengthen family ties,
thereby impeding the State’s mandate to actively promote the family’s total
development. Congress also found, as a reality, that women and children are
more susceptible to domestic and other forms of violence due to, among
375
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 375
Garcia vs. Drilon
others, the pervasive bias and prejudice against women and the stereotyping
of roles within the family environment that traditionally exist in Philippine
society. On this basis, Congress found it necessary to recognize the
substantial distinction within the family between men, on the one hand, and
women and children, on the other hand. This recognition, incidentally, is
not the first to be made in the laws as our law on persons and family
under the Civil Code also recognize, in various ways, the distinctions
between men and women in the context of the family.
Constitutional Law; Reasonableness Test; View that the reasonableness
test has been consistently applied to allow the courts to uphold State action
as long as the action is found to be germane to the purpose of the law, in
this case to support the unity and development of the family.—My serious
reservation on the use of an expanded equal protection clause and in
applying a strict scrutiny standard is, among others, based on lack of
necessity; we do not need these measures when we can fully examine R.A.
No. 9262’s constitutionality using the reasonableness test. The family is a
unit, in fact a very basic one, and it cannot operate on an uneven standard
where measures beyond what is necessary are extended to women and
children as against the man—the head of the family and the family provider.
The use of an expanded equal protection clause only stresses the concept of
an uneven equality that cannot long stand in a unit living at close quarters in
a situation of mutual dependency on one another. The reasonableness test,
on the other hand, has been consistently applied to allow the courts to
uphold State action as long as the action is found to be germane to the
purpose of the law, in this case to support the unity and development of the
family. If we are to deviate from or to modify this established standard of
scrutiny, we must do so carefully and for strong justifiable reasons.
Same; Equal Protection of the Law; Suspect Classification; Words and
Phrases; View that a suspect classification is one where distinctions are
made based on the most invidious bases for classification that violate the
most basic human rights, i.e., on the basis of race, national origin, alien
status, religious affiliation and, to a certain extent, sex and sexual
orientation.—When the court uses a strict standard for review to evaluate
the constitutionality of a law, it proceeds from the premise that the law
established a “suspect classi-
376
Garcia vs. Drilon
fication.” A suspect classification is one where distinctions are made based

on the most invidious bases for classification that violate the most basic
human rights, i.e., on the basis of race, national origin, alien status, religious
affiliation and, to a certain extent, sex and sexual orientation. With a suspect
classification, the most stringent scrutiny of the classification is applied: the
ordinary presumption of constitutionality is reversed and the government
carries the burden of proving the statute’s constitutionality. This approach is
unlike the lowest level of scrutiny (reasonableness test) that the Court has
applied in the past where the classification is scrutinized and
constitutionally upheld if found to be germane to the purpose of the law.
Under a reasonableness test, there is a presumption of constitutionality and
that the laws enacted by Congress are presumed to fall within its
constitutional powers.
Same; Same; View that there is no indication that Congress actually
intended to classify women and children as a group against men, under the
terms of R.A. No. 9262. Rather than a clear intent at classification, the
overriding intent of the law is indisputably to harmonize family relations
and protect the family as a basic social institution.—I do not really see any
indication that Congress actually intended to classify women and children as
a group against men, under the terms of R.A. No. 9262. Rather than a clear
intent at classification, the overriding intent of the law is indisputably to
harmonize family relations and protect the family as a basic social
institution. After sifting through the comprehensive information gathered,
and children impedes the harmony of the family and the personal growth
and development of family members. In the process, Congress found that
these types of violence must pointedly be addressed as they are more
commonly experienced by women and children due to the unequal power
relations of men and women in our society; Congress had removed these
types of violence as they are impediments that block the harmonious
development that it envisions for the family, of which men are important
component members.
Same; Same; Suspect Classification; View that a suspect classification
and the accompanying strict scrutiny should depend on the circumstances of
the case, on the impact of the illegal differential treatment on the group
involved, on the needed protection and the
377
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 377
Garcia vs. Drilon
impact of recognizing a suspect classification on future classification.—In

my view, a suspect classification and the accompanying strict scrutiny
should depend on the circumstances of the case, on the impact of the illegal
differential treatment on the group involved, on the needed protection and
the impact of recognizing a suspect classification on future classification. A
suspect classification label cannot solely and automatically be triggered by
the circumstance that women and children are accorded special protection
by the Constitution. In fact, there is no place for a strict level of scrutiny
when the Constitution itself has recognized the need for special protection;
where such recognition has been made, congressional action should carry
the presumption of validity.
Same; Same; View that the classification in the law was not
immediately brought on by considerations of gender or sex; it was simply a
reality as unavoidable as the reality that in Philippine society, a marriage is
composed of a man, a woman and their children.—A suspect classification
and the accompanying strict scrutiny standard cannot be solely based on the
circumstance that the law has the effect of being “gender-specific.” I believe
that the classification in the law was not immediately brought on by
considerations of gender or sex; it was simply a reality as unavoidable
as the reality that in Philippine society, a marriage is composed of a
man, a woman and their children. An obvious reason, of course, why the
classification did not solely depend on gender is because the law also covers
children, without regard to their sex or their sexual orientation.
Same; Same; View that R.A. No. 9262 does not deny, restrict or curtail
civil and human rights of other persons falling outside the classification,
particularly of the men members of the family who can avail of remedies
provided by other laws to ensure the protection of their own rights and
interests.—With the objective of promoting solidarity and the development
of the family, R.A. No. 9262 provides the legal redress for domestic
violence that particularly affects women and their children. Significantly,
the law does not deny, restrict or curtail civil and human rights of other
persons falling outside the classification, particularly of the men members
of the family who can avail of remedies provided by other laws to ensure
the protection of their own rights and interests. Consequently, the resulting
classification under R.A. No.
378
Garcia vs. Drilon
9262 is not wholly intended and does not work an injustice by removing
remedies that are available to men in violence committed against them. The
law furthermore does not target men against women and children and is
there simply to achieve a legitimate constitutional objective, and it does not
achieve this by a particularly harmful classification that can be labeled
“suspect” in the sense already established by jurisprudence. Under the
circumstances, the use and application of strict scrutiny review, or even the
use of an expanded equal protection perspective, strike me as both
unnecessary and disproportionate.
ABAD, J., Separate Concurring Opinion:
Constitutional Law; Equal Protection of the Law; View that men and
women are supposed to be equal yet this particular law provides immediate
relief to complaining women and harsh consequences to their men even
before the matter reaches the courtroom, a relief not available to the latter.
—This separate concurring opinion will address the issue of equal
protection since it presents the more serious challenge to the
constitutionality of the law. Men and women are supposed to be equal yet
this particular law provides immediate relief to complaining women and
harsh consequences to their men even before the matter reaches the
courtroom, a relief not available to the latter. The law, Garcia says, violates
his right to equal protection because it is gender-specific, favoring only
women when men could also be victims of domestic violence.
Same; Same; View that the equal protection clause can no longer be
interpreted as only a guarantee of formal equality but of substantive
equality.—Chief Justice Puno’s thesis is that the right to equal protection
casts another shadow when the issue raised under it involves persons
protected by the social justice provision of the Constitution, specifically,
Section 1, Article XIII. The equal protection clause can no longer be
interpreted as only a guarantee of formal equality but of substantive
equality. “It ought to be construed,” said the Chief Justice, “in consonance
with social justice as ‘the heart’ particularly of the 1987 Constitution — a
transformative covenant in which the Filipino people agreed to enshrine
asymmetrical equality to uplift disadvantaged groups and build a genuinely
egalitarian democracy.” This means that the weak, including women
379
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 379
Garcia vs. Drilon
in relation to men, can be treated with a measure of bias that they may cease
to be weak.
Same; Same; Expanded Equal Protection Clause; View that the
expanded equal protection clause should be understood as meant to “reduce
social, economic, and political inequalities, and remove cultural inequities
by equitably diffusing wealth and political power for the common good.”—
Chief Justice Puno goes on: “The Expanded Equal Protection Clause,
anchored on the human rights rationale, is designed as a weapon against the
indignity of discrimination so that in the patently unequal Philippine society,
each person may be restored to his or her rightful position as a person with
equal moral status.” Specifically, the expanded equal protection clause
should be understood as meant to “reduce social, economic, and political
inequalities, and remove cultural inequities by equitably diffusing wealth
and political power for the common good.” Borrowing the language of Law
v. Canada, 1 S.C.R. 497 (1999), case and adding his own thoughts, the
Chief Justice said: The purpose of the Expanded Equal Protection Clause is
to protect and enhance the right to dignity by: 1) preventing the imposition,
perpetuation and aggravation “of disadvantage, stereotyping, or political
[,economic, cultural,] or social prejudice”; and 2) promo[ting a Philippine]
society in which all persons enjoy equal recognition at law as human beings.
Violence Against Women and Children; Equal Protection of the Law;
View that Republic Act No. 9262 is gender-specific as only they may file the
prescribed actions against offenders, whether men or women, with whom
the victims are or were in lesbian relationships.—What remedies does R.A.
9262 especially provide women and children? The law is gender-specific as
only they may file the prescribed actions against offenders, whether men or
women, with whom the victims are or were in lesbian relationships. The
definition includes past or present marital, live-in, sexual or dating
relationships. This law also provides for the remedy of a protection order in
a civil action or in a criminal action, aside from the criminal action for its
violation. It makes the process of securing a restraining order against
perpetrators easier and more immediate by providing for the legal remedy of
protection orders from both the courts and barangay officials.
380
Garcia vs. Drilon
Same; Same; Convention on the Elimination of all forms of

Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW); View that in the context of
women’s rights, substantive equality has been defined by the Convention on
the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) as
equality which requires that women be given an equal start and that they be
empowered by an enabling environment to achieve equality of results.—In
the context of women’s rights, substantive equality has been defined by the
Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW) as equality which requires that women be given an equal
start and that they be empowered by an enabling environment to achieve
equality of results. It is not enough to guarantee women treatment that is
identical to that of men. Rather, biological as well as socially and culturally
constructed differences between women and men must be taken into
account. Under certain circumstances, non-identical treatment of women
and men will be required in order to address such differences.
Same; View that R.A. No. 9262 is based on the experiences of women
who have been victims of domestic violence.—Clearly, the substantive
equality model inspired R.A. 9262. For one thing, Congress enacted it
because of compelling interest in preventing and addressing the serious
problem of violence against women in the context of intimate relationships
— recognized all over the world as one of the most insidious forms of
gender discrimination. For another, R.A. 9262 is based on the experiences
of women who have been victims of domestic violence. The list of acts
regarded as forms of violence come from true-to-life stories of women who
have suffered abuses from their male partners. Finally, R.A. 9262 seeks
women’s full participation in society. Hence, the law grants them needed
relief to ensure equality, protection, and personal safety, enabling them to
enjoy their civil, political, social, and economic rights. The provision on
protection orders, for instance, precisely aims to safeguard “the victim from
further harm, minimizing any disruption in the victim’s daily life, and
facilitating the opportunity and ability of the victim to independently regain
control over her life.”
LEONEN, J., Concurring Opinion:
Remedial Law; Civil Procedure; Locus Standi; Words and Phrases;
View that Locus standi is defined as “a right of appearance
381
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 381
Garcia vs. Drilon
in a court of justice on a given question.”—Legal standing in cases that

raise constitutional issues is essential. Locus standi is defined as “a right of
appearance in a court of justice on a given question.” The fundamental
question is “whether a party alleges such personal stake in the outcome of
the controversy as to assure that concrete adverseness which sharpens the
presentation of issues upon which the court depends for illumination of
difficult constitutional questions.
Violence Against Women and Children; View that it may be said that
violence in the context of intimate relationships should not be seen and
encrusted as a gender issue; rather, it is a power issue.—In this light, it may
be said that violence in the context of intimate relationships should not be
seen and encrusted as a gender issue; rather, it is a power issue. Thus, when
laws are not gender-neutral, male victims of domestic violence may also
suffer from double victimization first by their abusers and second by the
judicial system. Incidentally, focusing on women as the victims entrenches
some level of heteronormativity. It is blind to the possibility that, whatever
moral positions are taken by those who are dominant, in reality intimate
relationships can also happen between men.
Statutes; View that an unconstitutional act is not a law; it confers no
rights; it imposes no duties; it affords no protection; it creates no office; it is
x x x as inoperative as though it had never been passed.—We have declared
that “[a]n unconstitutional act is not a law; it confers no rights; it imposes no
duties; it affords no protection; it creates no office; it is x x x as inoperative
as though it had never been passed.” However, the seemingly all-inclusive
statement of absolute retroactive invalidity may not always be justified. One
established exception is the doctrine of operative fact. The doctrine of
operative fact, as an exception to the general rule, only applies as a matter of
equity and fair play. It nullifies the effects of an unconstitutional law by
recognizing that the existence of a statute prior to a determination of
unconstitutionality is an operative fact and may have consequences which
cannot always be ignored. The past cannot always be erased by a new
judicial declaration. The doctrine is applicable when a declaration of
unconstitutionality will impose an undue burden on those who have relied
on the invalid Law.
382

Garcia vs. Drilon
PETITION for review on certiorari of the decision and resolution of

the Court of Appeals.
The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court.
Roland G. Ravina for petitioner.
Ma. Rowena Amelia V. Guanzon for private respondents.
Mae Niña Reyes-Gallos for private respondents.
Claire Angeline P. Luczon co-counsel for private respondents.
PERLAS-BERNABE, J.:
Hailed as the bastion of Christianity in Asia, the Philippines
boasts of 86.8 million Filipinos — or 93 percent of a total
population of 93.3 million adhering to the teachings of Jesus Christ.1
Yet, the admonition for husbands to love their wives as their own
bodies just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her2
failed to prevent, or even to curb, the pervasiveness of violence
against Filipino women. The National Commission on the Role of
Filipino Women (NCRFW) reported that, for the years 2000-2003,
“female violence comprised more than 90% of all forms of abuse
and violence and more than 90% of these reported cases were
committed by the women’s intimate partners such as their husbands
and live-in partners.”3
Thus, on March 8, 2004, after nine (9) years of spirited advocacy
by women’s groups, Congress enacted Republic Act (R.A.) No.
9262, entitled “An Act Defining Violence Against
_______________
1 “Philippines still top Christian country in Asia, 5th in world,” Philippine Daily
Inquirer, December 21, 2011.
2 Ephesians 5:25-28.
3 RATIONALE OF THE PROPOSED RULE ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND THEIR
CHILDREN, citing statistics furnished by the National Commission on the Role of
Filipino Women.
383
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 383

Garcia vs. Drilon
Women and Their Children, Providing for Protective Measures for

Victims, Prescribing Penalties Therefor, and for Other Purposes.” It
took effect on March 27, 2004.4
R.A. 9262 is a landmark legislation that defines and criminalizes
acts of violence against women and their children (VAWC)
perpetrated by women’s intimate partners, i.e., husband; former
husband; or any person who has or had a sexual or dating
relationship, or with whom the woman has a common child.5 The
law provides for protection orders from the barangay and the courts
to prevent the commission of further acts of VAWC; and outlines the
duties and responsibilities of barangay officials, law enforcers,
prosecutors and court personnel, social workers, health care
providers, and other local government officials in responding to
complaints of VAWC or requests for assistance.
A husband is now before the Court assailing the constitutionality
of R.A. 9262 as being violative of the equal protection and due
process clauses, and an undue delegation of judicial power to
barangay officials.
The Factual Antecedents
On March 23, 2006, Rosalie Jaype-Garcia (private respondent)
filed, for herself and in behalf of her minor children, a verified
6
petition (Civil Case No. 06-797) before the Regional Trial Court
(RTC) of Bacolod City for the issuance of a Temporary Protection
Order (TPO) against her husband, Jesus C. Garcia (petitioner),
pursuant to R.A. 9262. She claimed to be a victim of physical abuse;
emotional, psychological, and economic violence as a result of
marital infidelity on the part of petitioner, with threats of deprivation
of custody of her children and of financial support.7
_______________
4 Id.
5 Section 3(a), R.A. 9262.
6 Rollo, pp. 63-83.
7 Id., at pp. 66-67.
384

Garcia vs. Drilon
Private respondent’s claims

Private respondent married petitioner in 2002 when she was 34
years old and the former was eleven years her senior. They have
three (3) children, namely: Jo-Ann J. Garcia, 17 years old, who is
the natural child of petitioner but whom private respondent adopted;
Jessie Anthone J. Garcia, 6 years old; and Joseph Eduard J. Garcia,
3 years old.8
Private respondent described herself as a dutiful and faithful
wife, whose life revolved around her husband. On the other hand,
petitioner, who is of Filipino-Chinese descent, is dominant,
controlling, and demands absolute obedience from his wife and
children. He forbade private respondent to pray, and deliberately
isolated her from her friends. When she took up law, and even when
she was already working part time at a law office, petitioner
trivialized her ambitions and prevailed upon her to just stay at home.
He was often jealous of the fact that his attractive wife still catches
the eye of some men, at one point threatening that he would have
any man eyeing her killed.9
Things turned for the worse when petitioner took up an affair
with a bank manager of Robinson’s Bank, Bacolod City, who is the
godmother of one of their sons. Petitioner admitted to the affair
when private respondent confronted him about it in 2004. He even
boasted to the household help about his sexual relations with said
bank manager. Petitioner told private respondent, though, that he
was just using the woman because of their accounts with the bank.10
Petitioner’s infidelity spawned a series of fights that left private
respondent physically and emotionally wounded. In one of their
quarrels, petitioner grabbed private respondent on both arms and
shook her with such force that caused
_______________
8 Id., at p. 64.
9 Id., at pp. 67-68.
10 Id., at pp. 68-70.
385
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 385

Garcia vs. Drilon
bruises and hematoma. At another time, petitioner hit private

respondent forcefully on the lips that caused some bleeding.
Petitioner sometimes turned his ire on their daughter, Jo-Ann, who
had seen the text messages he sent to his paramour and whom he
blamed for squealing on him. He beat Jo-Ann on the chest and
slapped her many times. When private respondent decided to leave
petitioner, Jo-Ann begged her mother to stay for fear that if the latter
leaves, petitioner would beat her up. Even the small boys are aware
of private respondent’s sufferings. Their 6-year-old son said that
when he grows up, he would beat up his father because of his cruelty
to private respondent.11
All the emotional and psychological turmoil drove private
respondent to the brink of despair. On December 17, 2005, while at
home, she attempted suicide by cutting her wrist. She was found by
her son bleeding on the floor. Petitioner simply fled the house
instead of taking her to the hospital. Private respondent was
hospitalized for about seven (7) days in which time petitioner never
bothered to visit, nor apologized or showed pity on her. Since then,
private respondent has been undergoing therapy almost every week
and is taking anti-depressant medications.12
When private respondent informed the management of
Robinson’s Bank that she intends to file charges against the bank
manager, petitioner got angry with her for jeopardizing the
manager’s job. He then packed his things and told private
respondent that he was leaving her for good. He even told private
respondent’s mother, who lives with them in the family home, that
private respondent should just accept his extramarital affair since he
is not cohabiting with his paramour and has not sired a child with
her.13
_______________
11 Id., at pp. 70-71.
12 Id., at p. 72.
13 Id., at p. 73.
386

Garcia vs. Drilon
Private respondent is determined to separate from petitioner but

she is afraid that he would take her children from her and deprive
her of financial support. Petitioner had previously warned her that if
she goes on a legal battle with him, she would not get a single
centavo.14
Petitioner controls the family businesses involving mostly the
construction of deep wells. He is the President of three corporations
— 326 Realty Holdings, Inc., Negros Rotadrill Corporation, and J-
Bros Trading Corporation — of which he and private respondent are
both stockholders. In contrast to the absolute control of petitioner
over said corporations, private respondent merely draws a monthly
salary of P20,000.00 from one corporation only, the Negros
Rotadrill Corporation. Household expenses amounting to not less
than P200,000.00 a month are paid for by private respondent
through the use of credit cards, which, in turn, are paid by the same
corporation together with the bills for utilities.15
On the other hand, petitioner receives a monthly salary of
P60,000.00 from Negros Rotadrill Corporation, and enjoys
unlimited cash advances and other benefits in hundreds of thousands
of pesos from the corporations.16 After private respondent
confronted him about the affair, petitioner forbade her to hold office
at JBTC Building, Mandalagan, where all the businesses of the
corporations are conducted, thereby depriving her of access to full
information about said businesses. Until the filing of the petition a
quo, petitioner has not given private respondent an accounting of the
businesses the value of which she had helped raise to millions of
pesos.17
_______________
14 Id., at p. 74.
15 Id., at pp. 65-66.
16 Id., at p. 66.
17 Id., at p. 70.
387
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 387

Garcia vs. Drilon
Action of the RTC of Bacolod City

Finding reasonable ground to believe that an imminent danger of
violence against the private respondent and her children exists or is
18
about to recur, the RTC issued a TPO on March 24, 2006 effective
for thirty (30) days, which is quoted hereunder:
Respondent (petitioner herein), Jesus Chua Garcia, is hereby:

a) Ordered to remove all his personal belongings from the conjugal
dwelling or family home within 24 hours from receipt of the
Temporary Restraining Order and if he refuses, ordering that he be
removed by police officers from the conjugal dwelling; this order is
enforceable notwithstanding that the house is under the name of 236
Realty Holdings Inc. (Republic Act No. 9262 states “regardless of
ownership”), this is to allow the Petitioner (private respondent
herein) to enter the conjugal dwelling without any danger from the
Respondent.
After the Respondent leaves or is removed from the conjugal
dwelling, or anytime the Petitioner decides to return to the conjugal
dwelling to remove things, the Petitioner shall be assisted by police
officers when re-entering the family home.
The Chief of Police shall also give the Petitioner police assistance on
Sunday, 26 March 2006 because of the danger that the Respondent
will attempt to take her children from her when he arrives from
Manila and finds out about this suit.
b) To stay away from the petitioner and her children, mother and all
her household help and driver from a distance of 1,000 meters, and
shall not enter the gate of the subdivision where the Petitioner may
be temporarily residing.
c) Not to harass, annoy, telephone, contact or otherwise
communicate with the Petitioner, directly or indirectly, or
_______________
18 Id., at pp. 84-87.
388

Garcia vs. Drilon
through other persons, or contact directly or indirectly her children,

mother and household help, nor send gifts, cards, flowers, letters and
the like. Visitation rights to the children may be subject of a modified
TPO in the future.
d) To surrender all his firearms including a .9MM caliber firearm
and a Walther PPK and ordering the Philippine National Police
Firearms and Explosives Unit and the Provincial Director of the PNP
to cancel all the Respondent’s firearm licenses. He should also be
ordered to surrender any unlicensed firearms in his possession or
control.
e) To pay full financial support for the Petitioner and the children,
including rental of a house for them, and educational and medical
expenses.
f) Not to dissipate the conjugal business.
g) To render an accounting of all advances, benefits, bonuses and
other cash he received from all the corporations from 1 January 2006
up to 31 March 2006, which himself and as President of the
corporations and his Comptroller, must submit to the Court not later
than 2 April 2006. Thereafter, an accounting of all these funds shall
be reported to the court by the Comptroller, copy furnished to the
Petitioner, every 15 days of the month, under pain of Indirect
Contempt of Court.
h) To ensure compliance especially with the order granting support
pendente lite, and considering the financial resources of the
Respondent and his threat that if the Petitioner sues she will not get a
single centavo, the Respondent is ordered to put up a BOND TO
KEEP THE PEACE in the amount of FIVE MILLION PESOS, in
two sufficient sureties.
On April 24, 2006, upon motion19 of private respondent, the trial

court issued an amended TPO,20 effective for thirty (30) days, which
included the following additional provisions:
_______________
19 Urgent Ex-Parte Motion for Renewal of Temporary Protection Order (TPO) or
Issuance of Modified TPO. Id., at pp. 90-93.
20 Id., at pp. 94-97.
389
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 389

Garcia vs. Drilon
i) The petitioners (private respondents herein) are given the

continued use of the Nissan Patrol and the Starex Van which they are
using in Negros Occidental.
j) The petitioners are given the continued use and occupation of the
house in Parañaque, the continued use of the Starex van in Metro
Manila, whenever they go to Manila.
k) Respondent is ordered to immediately post a bond to keep the
peace, in two sufficient sureties.
l) To give monthly support to the petitioner provisionally fixed in
the sum of One Hundred Fifty Thousand Pesos (Php 150,000.00) per
month plus rental expenses of Fifty Thousand Pesos (Php 50,000.00)
per month until the matter of support could be finally resolved.
Two days later, or on April 26, 2006, petitioner filed an

Opposition to the Urgent Ex-Parte Motion for Renewal of the TPO21
seeking the denial of the renewal of the TPO on the grounds that it
did not (1) comply with the three-day notice rule, and (2) contain a
notice of hearing. He further asked that the TPO be modified by (1)
removing one vehicle used by private respondent and returning the
same to its rightful owner, the J-Bros Trading Corporation, and (2)
cancelling or reducing the amount of the bond from P5,000,000.00
to a more manageable level at P100,000.00.Subsequently, on May
23, 2006, petitioner moved22 for the modification of the TPO to
allow him visitation rights to his children.
On May 24, 2006, the TPO was renewed and extended yet again,
but subject only to the following modifications prayed for by private
respondent:
a) That respondent (petitioner herein) return the clothes and other

personal belongings of Rosalie and her
_______________
21 Id., at pp. 98-103.
22 Id., at pp. 138-140.
390

Garcia vs. Drilon
children to Judge Jesus Ramos, co-counsel for Petitioner, within 24

hours from receipt of the Temporary Protection Order by his counsel,
otherwise be declared in Indirect Contempt of Court;
b) Respondent shall make an accounting or list of furniture and
equipment in the conjugal house in Pitimini St., Capitolville
Subdivision, Bacolod City within 24 hours from receipt of the
Temporary Protection Order by his counsel;
c) Ordering the Chief of the Women’s Desk of the Bacolod City
Police Headquarters to remove Respondent from the conjugal
dwelling within eight (8) hours from receipt of the Temporary
Protection Order by his counsel, and that he cannot return until 48
hours after the petitioners have left, so that the petitioner Rosalie and
her representatives can remove things from the conjugal home and
make an inventory of the household furniture, equipment and other
things in the conjugal home, which shall be submitted to the Court.
d) Deliver full financial support of Php200,000.00 and
Php50,000.00 for rental and Php25,000.00 for clothes of the three
petitioners (sic) children within 24 hours from receipt of the
Temporary Protection Order by his counsel, otherwise be declared in
indirect contempt of Court;
e) That respondent surrender his two firearms and all unlicensed
firearms to the Clerk of Court within 24 hours from receipt of the
Temporary Protection Order by his counsel;
f) That respondent shall pay petitioner educational expenses of the
children upon presentation of proof of payment of such expenses.23
Claiming that petitioner continued to deprive them of financial
support; failed to faithfully comply with the TPO; and committed
new acts of harassment against her and their
_______________
23 Order dated May 24, 2006. Id., at pp. 148-149.
391
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 391

Garcia vs. Drilon
children, private respondent filed another application24 for the

issuance of a TPO ex parte. She alleged inter alia that petitioner
contrived a replevin suit against himself by J-Bros Trading, Inc., of
which the latter was purportedly no longer president, with the end in
view of recovering the Nissan Patrol and Starex Van used by private
respondent and the children. A writ of replevin was served upon
private respondent by a group of six or seven policemen with long
firearms that scared the two small boys, Jessie Anthone and Joseph
Eduard.25
While Joseph Eduard, then three years old, was driven to school,
two men allegedly attempted to kidnap him, which incident
traumatized the boy resulting in his refusal to go back to school. On
another occasion, petitioner allegedly grabbed their daughter, Jo-
Ann, by the arm and threatened her.26 The incident was reported to
the police, and Jo-Ann subsequently filed a criminal complaint
against her father for violation of R.A. 7610, also known as the
“Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation
and Discrimination Act.”
Aside from the replevin suit, petitioner’s lawyers initiated the
filing by the housemaids working at the conjugal home of a
complaint for kidnapping and illegal detention against private
respondent. This came about after private respondent, armed with a
TPO, went to said home to get her and her children’s belongings.
Finding some of her things inside a housemaid’s (Sheryl Jamola)
bag in the maids’ room, private respondent filed a case for qualified
theft against Jamola.27
On August 23, 2006, the RTC issued a TPO,28 effective for thirty
(30) days, which reads as follows:
_______________
24 Id., at pp. 154-166.
25 Id., at p. 156.
26 Id., at p. 157.
27 Id., at pp. 158-159.
28 Id., at pp. 167-174.
392

Garcia vs. Drilon
Respondent (petitioner herein), Jesus Chua Garcia, is hereby:
1) Prohibited from threatening to commit or committing, personally

or through another, acts of violence against the offended party;
2) Prohibited from harassing, annoying, telephoning, contacting or
otherwise communicating in any form with the offended party, either
directly or indirectly;
3) Required to stay away, personally or through his friends,
relatives, employees or agents, from all the Petitioners Rosalie J.
Garcia and her children, Rosalie J. Garcia’s three brothers, her
mother Primitiva Jaype, cook Novelita Caranzo, driver Romeo
Hontiveros, laundrywoman Mercedita Bornales, security guard
Darwin Gayona and the petitioner’s other household helpers from a
distance of 1,000 meters, and shall not enter the gate of the
subdivision where the Petitioners are temporarily residing, as well as
from the schools of the three children; Furthermore, that respondent
shall not contact the schools of the children directly or indirectly in
any manner including, ostensibly to pay for their tuition or other fees
directly, otherwise he will have access to the children through the
schools and the TPO will be rendered nugatory;
4) Directed to surrender all his firearms including .9MM caliber
firearm and a Walther PPK to the Court;
5) Directed to deliver in full financial support of Php200,000.00 a
month and Php50,000.00 for rental for the period from August 6 to
September 6, 2006; and support in arrears from March 2006 to
August 2006 the total amount of Php1,312,000.00;
6) Directed to deliver educational expenses for 2006-2007 the
amount of Php75,000.00 and Php25,000.00;
7) Directed to allow the continued use of a Nissan Patrol with Plate
No. FEW 508 and a Starex van with Plate No. FFD 991 and should
the respondent fail to deliver said vehicles, respondent is ordered to
provide the petitioner another vehicle which is the one taken by J
Bros Tading;
393
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 393

Garcia vs. Drilon
8) Ordered not to dissipate, encumber, alienate, sell, lease or

otherwise dispose of the conjugal assets, or those real properties in
the name of Jesus Chua Garcia only and those in which the conjugal
partnership of gains of the Petitioner Rosalie J. Garcia and
respondent have an interest in, especially the conjugal home located
in No. 14, Pitimini St., Capitolville Subdivision, Bacolod City, and
other properties which are conjugal assets or those in which the
conjugal partnership of gains of Petitioner Rosalie J. Garcia and the
respondent have an interest in and listed in Annexes “I,” “I-1,” and
“I-2,” including properties covered by TCT Nos. T-186325 and T-
168814;
9) Ordered that the Register of Deeds of Bacolod City and E.B.
Magalona shall be served a copy of this TEMPORARY
PROTECTION ORDER and are ordered not to allow the transfer,
sale, encumbrance or disposition of these above-cited properties to
any person, entity or corporation without the personal presence of
petitioner Rosalie J. Garcia, who shall affix her signature in the
presence of the Register of Deeds, due to the fear of petitioner
Rosalie that her signature will be forged in order to effect the
encumbrance or sale of these properties to defraud her or the
conjugal partnership of gains.
In its Order29 dated September 26, 2006, the trial court extended
the aforequoted TPO for another ten (10) days, and gave petitioner a
period of five (5) days within which to show cause why the TPO
should not be renewed, extended, or modified. Upon petitioner’s
manifestation,30 however, that he has not received a copy of private
respondent’s motion to modify/renew the TPO, the trial court
directed in its Order31 dated October 6, 2006 that petitioner be
furnished a copy of said motion. Nonetheless, an Order32 dated a day
earlier, October
_______________
29 Id., at p. 182.
30 Id., at pp. 183-184.
31 Id., at p. 185.
32 Id., at pp. 186-187.
394

Garcia vs. Drilon
5, had already been issued renewing the TPO dated August 23,
2006. The pertinent portion is quoted hereunder:
xxxx
x x x it appearing further that the hearing could not yet be finally
terminated, the Temporary Protection Order issued on August 23,
2006 is hereby renewed and extended for thirty (30) days and
continuously extended and renewed for thirty (30) days, after each
expiration, until further orders, and subject to such modifications as
may be ordered by the court.
After having received a copy of the foregoing Order, petitioner

no longer submitted the required comment to private respondent’s
motion for renewal of the TPO arguing that it would only be an
“exercise in futility.”33
Proceedings before the CA
During the pendency of Civil Case No. 06-797, petitioner filed
before the Court of Appeals (CA) a petition34 for prohibition (CA-
G.R. CEB-SP. No. 01698), with prayer for injunction and temporary
restraining order, challenging (1) the constitutionality of R.A. 9262
for being violative of the due process and the equal protection
clauses, and (2) the validity of the modified TPO issued in the civil
case for being “an unwanted product of an invalid law.”
On May 26, 2006, the appellate court issued a 60-day Temporary
Restraining Order35 (TRO) against the enforcement of the TPO, the
amended TPOs and other orders pursuant thereto.
_______________
33 See Manifestation dated October 10, 2006. Id., at pp. 188-189.
34 Id., at pp. 104-137.
35 Id., at pp. 151-152.
395
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 395

Garcia vs. Drilon
Subsequently, however, on January 24, 2007, the appellate court

dismissed36 the petition for failure of petitioner to raise the
constitutional issue in his pleadings before the trial court in the civil
case, which is clothed with jurisdiction to resolve the same.
Secondly, the challenge to the validity of R.A. 9262 through a
petition for prohibition seeking to annul the protection orders issued
by the trial court constituted a collateral attack on said law.
His motion for reconsideration of the foregoing Decision having
been denied in the Resolution37 dated August 14, 2007, petitioner is
now before us alleging that—
The Issues
I.
THE COURT OF APPEALS ERRED IN DISMISSING THE PETITION
ON THE THEORY THAT THE ISSUE OF CONSTITUTIONALITY WAS
NOT RAISED AT THE EARLIEST OPPORTUNITY AND THAT, THE
PETITION CONSTITUTES A COLLATERAL ATTACK ON THE
VALIDITY OF THE LAW.
II.
THE COURT OF APPEALS COMMITTED SERIOUS ERROR IN
FAILING TO CONCLUDE THAT R.A. 9262 IS DISCRIMINATORY,
UNJUST, AND VIOLATIVE OF THE EQUAL PROTECTION CLAUSE.
III.
THE COURT OF APPEALS COMMITTED GRAVE MISTAKE IN NOT
FINDING THAT R.A. 9262 RUNS COUNTER TO THE DUE PROCESS
CLAUSE OF THE CONSTITUTION.
_______________
36 Decision dated January 24, 2007. Penned by Associate Justice Priscilla Baltazar-Padilla,
with Associate Justices Arsenio J. Magpale and Romeo F. Barza, concurring. Id., at pp. 47-57.
37 Id., at pp. 60-61.
396

Garcia vs. Drilon
IV.
THE COURT OF APPEALS ERRED IN NOT FINDING THAT THE LAW
DOES VIOLENCE TO THE POLICY OF THE STATE TO PROTECT
THE FAMILY AS A BASIC SOCIAL INSTITUTION.
V.
THE COURT OF APPEALS SERIOUSLY ERRED IN NOT DECLARING
R.A. No. 9262 AS INVALID AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL BECAUSE IT
ALLOWS AN UNDUE DELEGATION OF JUDICIAL POWER TO THE
BARANGAY OFFICIALS.38
The Ruling of the Court

Before delving into the arguments propounded by petitioner
against the constitutionality of R.A. 9262, we shall first tackle the
propriety of the dismissal by the appellate court of the petition for
prohibition (CA-G.R. CEB-SP. No. 01698) filed by petitioner.
As a general rule, the question of constitutionality must be raised
at the earliest opportunity so that if not raised in the pleadings,
ordinarily it may not be raised in the trial, and if not raised in the
trial court, it will not be considered on appeal.39 Courts will not
anticipate a question of constitutional law in advance of the
necessity of deciding it.40
In defending his failure to attack the constitutionality of R.A.
9262 before the RTC of Bacolod City, petitioner argues that the
Family Court has limited authority and jurisdiction that is
“inadequate to tackle the complex issue of constitutionality.”41
_______________
38 Petition, Id., at p. 22.
39 ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation v. Philippine Multi-Media System, Inc.,
G.R. Nos. 175769-70, January 19, 2009, 576 SCRA 262, 289.
40 Philippine National Bank v. Palma, 503 Phil. 917, 932; 466 SCRA 307, 323
(2005).
41 Petition, Rollo, p. 24.
397
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 397

Garcia vs. Drilon
We disagree.
Family Courts have authority
and jurisdiction to consider the
constitutionality of a statute.
At the outset, it must be stressed that Family Courts are special
courts, of the same level as Regional Trial Courts. Under R.A. 8369,
otherwise known as the “Family Courts Act of 1997,” family courts
have exclusive original jurisdiction to hear and decide cases of
domestic violence against women and children.42 In accordance with
said law, the Supreme Court designated from among the branches of
the Regional Trial Courts at least one Family Court in each of
several key cities identified.43 To achieve harmony with the first
mentioned law, Section 7 of R.A. 9262 now provides that Regional
Trial Courts designated as Family Courts shall have original and
exclusive jurisdiction over cases of VAWC defined under the latter
law, viz.:
_______________
42 SEC. 5. Jurisdiction of Family Courts.—The Family Courts shall have
exclusive original jurisdiction to hear and decide the following cases:
xxxx
k) Cases of domestic violence against:
1) Women—which are acts of gender based violence that results, or are
likely to result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to
women; and other forms of physical abuse such as battering or threats and
coercion which violate a woman’s personhood, integrity and freedom
movement; and
2) Children—which include the commission of all forms of abuse,
neglect, cruelty, exploitation, violence, and discrimination and all other
conditions prejudicial to their development.
43 Sec. 17, R.A. 8369.
398

Garcia vs. Drilon
SEC. 7. Venue.—The Regional Trial Court designated as a
Family Court shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction over
cases of violence against women and their children under this law. In
the absence of such court in the place where the offense was
committed, the case shall be filed in the Regional Trial Court where
the crime or any of its elements was committed at the option of the
complainant. (Emphasis supplied)
Inspite of its designation as a family court, the RTC of Bacolod

City remains possessed of authority as a court of general original
jurisdiction to pass upon all kinds of cases whether civil, criminal,
special proceedings, land registration, guardianship, naturalization,
admiralty or insolvency.44 It is settled that RTCs have jurisdiction to
resolve the constitutionality of a statute,45 “this authority being
embraced in the general definition of the judicial power to determine
what are the valid and binding laws by the criterion of their
conformity to the fundamental law.”46 The Constitution vests the
power of judicial review or the power to declare the constitutionality
or validity of a law, treaty, international or executive agreement,
presidential decree, order, instruction, ordinance, or regulation not
only in this Court, but in all RTCs.47 We said in J.M. Tuason and
Co., Inc. v. CA48 that, “[p]lainly the Constitution contemplates that
the inferior courts should have jurisdiction in cases involving
constitutionality of any treaty or law, for it speaks of appellate
review of final judgments of inferior courts
_______________
44 Manalo v. Mariano, 161 Phil. 108, 120; 69 SCRA 80, 89 (1976).
45 Planters Products, Inc. v. Fertiphil Corporation, G.R. No. 166006, March 14,
2008, 548 SCRA 485, 504.
46 Drilon v. Lim, G.R. No. 112497, August 4, 1994, 235 SCRA 135, 140.
47 Planters Products, Inc. v. Fertiphil Corporation, supra note 45, at 505, citing
Mirasol v. CA, 403 Phil. 760; 351 SCRA 44 (2001).
48 G.R. Nos. L-18128 & L-18672, December 26, 1961, 3 SCRA 696, 703-704.
399
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 399

Garcia vs. Drilon
in cases where such constitutionality happens to be in issue.”

Section 5, Article VIII of the 1987 Constitution reads in part as
follows:
SEC. 5. The Supreme Court shall have the following powers:

xxx
2. Review, revise, reverse, modify, or affirm on appeal or certiorari, as
the law or the Rules of Court may provide, final judgments and
orders of lower courts in:
a. All cases in which the constitutionality or validity of any
treaty, international or executive agreement, law, presidential
decree, proclamation, order, instruction, ordinance, or
regulation is in question.
xxxx
Thus, contrary to the posturing of petitioner, the issue of

constitutionality of R.A. 9262 could have been raised at the earliest
opportunity in his Opposition to the petition for protection order
before the RTC of Bacolod City, which had jurisdiction to determine
the same, subject to the review of this Court.
Section 20 of A.M. No. 04-10-11-SC, the Rule on Violence
Against Women and Their Children, lays down a new kind of
procedure requiring the respondent to file an opposition to the
petition and not an answer.49 Thus:
SEC. 20. Opposition to petition.—(a) The respondent may file an

opposition to the petition which he himself shall verify. It must be
accompanied by the affidavits of witnesses and shall show cause why
a temporary or permanent protection order should not be issued.
_______________
49 RATIONALE OF THE PROPOSED RULES ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND THEIR CHILDREN.
400

Garcia vs. Drilon
(b) Respondent shall not include in the opposition any

counterclaim, cross-claim or third-party complaint, but any cause
of action which could be the subject thereof may be litigated in a
separate civil action. (Emphasis supplied)
We cannot subscribe to the theory espoused by petitioner that,

since a counterclaim, cross-claim and third-party complaint are to be
excluded from the opposition, the issue of constitutionality cannot
likewise be raised therein. A counterclaim is defined as any claim
for money or other relief which a defending party may have against
an opposing party.50 A crossclaim, on the other hand, is any claim
by one party against a co-party arising out of the transaction or
occurrence that is the subject matter either of the original action or
of a counterclaim therein.51 Finally, a third-party complaint is a
claim that a defending party may, with leave of court, file against a
person not a party to the action for contribution, indemnity,
subrogation or any other relief, in respect of his opponent’s claim.52
As pointed out by Justice Teresita J. Leonardo-De Castro, the
unconstitutionality of a statute is not a cause of action that could be
the subject of a counterclaim, cross-claim or a third-party complaint.
Therefore, it is not prohibited from being raised in the opposition in
view of the familiar maxim expressio unius est exclusio alterius.
Moreover, it cannot be denied that this issue affects the resolution
of the case a quo because the right of private respondent to a
protection order is founded solely on the very
_______________
50 Korea Exchange Bank v. Hon. Rogelio C. Gonzales, 496 Phil. 127, 143-144;
456 SCRA 224, 241 (2005); Spouses Sapugay v. CA, 262 Phil. 506, 513; 183 SCRA
464, 479 (1990).
51 Sec. 8, Rule 6, 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure.
52 Sec. 11, Rule 6, 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure.
401
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 401

Garcia vs. Drilon
statute the validity of which is being attacked53 by petitioner who

has sustained, or will sustain, direct injury as a result of its
enforcement. The alleged unconstitutionality of R.A. 9262 is, for all
intents and purposes, a valid cause for the non-issuance of a
protection order.That the proceedings in Civil Case No. 06-797 are
summary in nature should not have deterred petitioner from raising
the same in his Opposition. The question relative to the
constitutionality of a statute is one of law which does not need to be
supported by evidence.54 Be that as it may, Section 25 of A.M. No.
04-10-11-SC nonetheless allows the conduct of a hearing to
determine legal issues, among others, viz.:
SEC. 25. Order for further hearing.—In case the court

determines the need for further hearing, it may issue an order
containing the following:
(a) Facts undisputed and admitted;
(b) Factual and legal issues to be resolved;
(c) Evidence, including objects and documents that have been
marked and will be presented;
(d) Names of witnesses who will be ordered to present their direct
testimonies in the form of affidavits; and
(e) Schedule of the presentation of evidence by both parties which
shall be done in one day, to the extent possible, within the 30-day
period of the effectivity of the temporary protection order issued.
(Emphasis supplied)
To obviate potential dangers that may arise concomitant to the

conduct of a hearing when necessary, Section 26 (b) of A.M. No. 04-
10-11-SC provides that if a temporary protection
_______________
53 See People of the Philippine Islands and Hongkong & Shanghai Banking
Corporation v. Vera, 65 Phil. 199 (1937); Philippine Coconut Producers Federation,
Inc. (COCOFED) v. Republic, G.R. Nos. 177857-58, January 24, 2012, 663 SCRA
514, 594.
54 Recreation and Amusement Association of the Philippines v. City of Manila,
100 Phil. 950, 956 (1957).
402

Garcia vs. Drilon
order issued is due to expire, the trial court may extend or renew the
said order for a period of thirty (30) days each time until final
judgment is rendered. It may likewise modify the extended or
renewed temporary protection order as may be necessary to meet the
needs of the parties. With the private respondent given ample
protection, petitioner could proceed to litigate the constitutional
issues, without necessarily running afoul of the very purpose for the
adoption of the rules on summary procedure.
In view of all the foregoing, the appellate court correctly
dismissed the petition for prohibition with prayer for injunction and
temporary restraining order (CA-G.R. CEB - SP. No. 01698).
Petitioner may have proceeded upon an honest belief that if he finds
succor in a superior court, he could be granted an injunctive relief.
However, Section 22(j) of A.M. No. 04-10-11-SC expressly
disallows the filing of a petition for certiorari, mandamus or
prohibition against any interlocutory order issued by the trial
court. Hence, the 60-day TRO issued by the appellate court in this
case against the enforcement of the TPO, the amended TPOs and
other orders pursuant thereto was improper, and it effectively
hindered the case from taking its normal course in an expeditious
and summary manner.
As the rules stand, a review of the case by appeal or certiorari
before judgment is prohibited. Moreover, if the appeal of a judgment
granting permanent protection shall not stay its enforcement,55 with
more reason that a TPO, which is valid only for thirty (30) days at a
time,56 should not be enjoined.The mere fact that a statute is alleged
to be unconstitutional or invalid, does not of itself entitle a litigant to
have the same enjoined.57 In Younger v. Harris, Jr.,58 the Supreme
Court of the United States declared, thus:
_______________
55 Secs. 22 and 31, A.M. No. 04-10-11-SC.
56 Sec. 26 (b), A.M. No. 04-10-11-SC.
57 Sto. Domingo v. De Los Angeles, 185 Phil. 94, 102; 96 SCRA 139, 147 (1980).
403
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 403

Garcia vs. Drilon
Federal injunctions against state criminal statutes, either in their

entirety or with respect to their separate and distinct prohibitions, are
not to be granted as a matter of course, even if such statutes are
unconstitutional. No citizen or member of the community is immune
from prosecution, in good faith, for his alleged criminal acts. The
imminence of such a prosecution even though alleged to be
unauthorized and, hence, unlawful is not alone ground for relief in
equity which exerts its extraordinary powers only to prevent
irreparable injury to the plaintiff who seeks its aid. (Citations
omitted)
The sole objective of injunctions is to preserve the status quo

until the trial court hears fully the merits of the case. It bears
stressing, however, that protection orders are granted ex parte so as
to protect women and their children from acts of violence. To issue
an injunction against such orders will defeat the very purpose of the
law against VAWC.
Notwithstanding all these procedural flaws, we shall not shirk
from our obligation to determine novel issues, or issues of first
impression, with far-reaching implications. We have, time and again,
discharged our solemn duty as final arbiter of constitutional issues,
and with more reason now, in view of private respondent’s plea in
her Comment59 to the instant Petition that we should put the
challenge to the constitutionality of R.A. 9262 to rest. And so we
shall.
Intent of Congress in
enacting R.A. 9262.
Petitioner claims that since R.A. 9262 is intended to prevent and
criminalize spousal and child abuse, which could very well be
committed by either the husband or the wife,
_______________
58 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971), cited in The Executive Secretary v. Court of Appeals,
473 Phil. 27, 56-57; 429 SCRA 81, 102 (2004).
59 Rollo, pp. 214-240, 237.
404

Garcia vs. Drilon
gender alone is not enough basis to deprive the husband/father of the

remedies under the law.60
A perusal of the deliberations of Congress on Senate Bill No.
2723,61 which became R.A. 9262, reveals that while the sponsor,
Senator Luisa Pimentel-Ejercito (better known as Senator Loi
Estrada), had originally proposed what she called a “synthesized
measure”62 — an amalgamation of two measures, namely, the “Anti-
Domestic Violence Act” and the “AntiAbuse of Women in Intimate
Relationships Act”63 — providing protection to “all family
members, leaving no one in isolation” but at the same time giving
special attention to women as the “usual victims” of violence and
abuse,64 nonetheless, it was eventually agreed that men be denied
protection under the same measure. We quote pertinent portions of
the deliberations:
Wednesday, December 10, 2003

Senator Pangilinan. I just wanted to place this on record, Mr. President. Some
women’s groups have expressed concerns and relayed these concerns to me
that if we are to include domestic violence apart from against women as well
as other members of the household, including children or the husband, they
fear that this would weaken the efforts to address domestic violence of which
the main victims or the bulk of the victims really are the wives, the spouses
or the female partners in a relationship. We would like to place that on
record. How does the good Senator respond to this kind of observation?
_______________
60 Petition, Id., at pp. 26-27.
61 An Act Defining Violence Against Women and Members of the Family,
Prescribing Penalties Therefor, Providing for Protective Measures for Victims and for
Other Purposes.
62 Congressional Records, Vol. III, No. 45, December 10, 2003, p. 27.
63 Id., at p. 25.
64 Id., at p. 27.
405
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 405

Garcia vs. Drilon
Senator Estrada. Yes, Mr. President, there is this group of women who call
themselves “WIIR” Women in Intimate Relationship. They do not want to
include men in this domestic violence. But plenty of men are also being
abused by women. I am playing safe so I placed here members of the family,
prescribing penalties therefor and providing protective measures for victims.
This includes the men, children, live-in, common-law wives, and those
related with the family.65
xxxx
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
xxxx
The President Pro Tempore. x x x
Also, may the Chair remind the group that there was the discussion whether
to limit this to women and not to families which was the issue of the AWIR
group. The understanding that I have is that we would be having a broader
scope rather than just women, if I remember correctly, Madam sponsor.
Senator Estrada. Yes, Mr. President.
As a matter of fact, that was brought up by Senator Pangilinan during the
interpellation period.
I think Senator Sotto has something to say to that.
Senator Legarda. Mr. President, the reason I am in support of the measure. Do
not get me wrong. However, I believe that there is a need to protect women’s
rights especially in the domestic environment.
As I said earlier, there are nameless, countless, voiceless women who have
not had the opportunity to file a case against their spouses, their live-in
_______________
65 Id., at pp. 43-44.
406

Garcia vs. Drilon
partners after years, if not decade, of battery and abuse. If we

broaden the scope to include even the men, assuming they can at all
be abused by the women or their spouses, then it would not equalize
the already difficult situation for women, Mr. President.
I think that the sponsor, based on our earlier conversations, concurs with this
position. I am sure that the men in this Chamber who love their women in
their lives so dearly will agree with this representation. Whether we like it or
not, it is an unequal world. Whether we like it or not, no matter how
empowered the women are, we are not given equal opportunities especially
in the domestic environment where the macho Filipino man would always
feel that he is stronger, more superior to the Filipino woman.
xxxx
The President Pro Tempore. What does the sponsor say?
Senator Estrada. Mr. President, before accepting this, the committee came up
with this bill because the family members have been included in this
proposed measure since the other members of the family other than women
are also possible victims of violence. While women are most likely the
intended victims, one reason incidentally why the measure focuses on
women, the fact remains that in some relatively few cases, men also stand to
be victimized and that children are almost always the helpless victims of
violence. I am worried that there may not be enough protection extended to
other family members particularly children who are excluded. Although
Republic Act No. 7610, for instance, more or less, addresses the special
needs of abused children. The same law is inadequate. Protection orders for
one are not available in said law.
I am aware that some groups are apprehensive about granting the same
protection to men, fearing that they may use this law to justify their abusive
407
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 407

Garcia vs. Drilon
behavior against women. However, we should also recognize that

there are established procedures and standards in our courts which
give credence to evidentiary support and cannot just arbitrarily and
whimsically entertain baseless complaints.
Mr. President, this measure is intended to harmonize family relations and to
protect the family as the basic social institution. Though I recognize the
unequal power relations between men and women in our society, I believe
we have an obligation to uphold inherent rights and dignity of both husband
and wife and their immediate family members, particularly children.
While I prefer to focus mainly on women, I was compelled to include other
family members as a critical input arrived at after a series of
consultations/meetings with various NGOs, experts, sports groups and other
affected sectors, Mr. President.
Senator Sotto. Mr. President.
The President Pro Tempore. Yes, with the permission of the other senators.
Senator Sotto. Yes, with the permission of the two ladies on the Floor.
The President Pro Tempore. Yes, Sen. Vicente C. Sotto III is recognized.
Senator Sotto. I presume that the effect of the proposed amendment of Senator
Legarda would be removing the “men and children” in this particular bill
and focus specifically on women alone. That will be the net effect of that
proposed amendment. Hearing the rationale mentioned by the distinguished
sponsor, Sen. Luisa “Loi” Ejercito Estrada, I am not sure now whether she is
inclined to accept the proposed amendment of Senator Legarda.
I am willing to wait whether she is accepting this or not because if she is
going to accept this, I will propose an amendment to the amendment rather
than object to the amendment, Mr. President.
408

Garcia vs. Drilon
xxxx
Senator Estrada. The amendment is accepted, Mr. President.
The President Pro Tempore. Is there any objection?
xxxx
Senator Sotto. x x x May I propose an amendment to the amendment.
The President Pro Tempore. Before we act on the amendment?
Senator Sotto. Yes, Mr. President.
The President Pro Tempore. Yes, please proceed.
Senator Sotto. Mr. President, I am inclined to believe the rationale used by the
distinguished proponent of the amendment. As a matter of fact, I tend to
agree. Kung may maaabuso, mas malamang iyong babae kaysa sa lalake. At
saka iyong mga lalake, puwede na talagang magulpi iyan. Okey lang iyan.
But I cannot agree that we remove the children from this particular measure.
So, if I may propose an amendment—
The President Pro Tempore. To the amendment.
Senator Sotto.—more than the women, the children are very much abused. As a
matter of fact, it is not limited to minors. The abuse is not limited to seven,
six, 5-year-old children. I have seen 14, 15-year-old children being abused
by their fathers, even by their mothers. And it breaks my heart to find out
about these things.
Because of the inadequate existing law on abuse of children, this particular
measure will update that. It will enhance and hopefully prevent the abuse of
children and not only women.
409
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 409

Garcia vs. Drilon
SOTTO-LEGARDA AMENDMENTS
Therefore, may I propose an amendment that, yes, we remove the aspect of
the men in the bill but not the children.
Senator Legarda. I agree, Mr. President, with the Minority Leader.
The President Pro Tempore. Effectively then, it will be women AND
CHILDREN.
Senator Sotto. Yes, Mr. President.
Senator Estrada. It is accepted, Mr. President.
The President Pro Tempore. Is there any objection? [Silence] There being
none, the amendment, as amended, is approved.66
It is settled that courts are not concerned with the wisdom,

justice, policy, or expediency of a statute.67 Hence, we dare not
venture into the real motivations and wisdom of the members of
Congress in limiting the protection against violence and abuse under
R.A. 9262 to women and children only. No proper challenge on said
grounds may be entertained in this proceeding. Congress has made
its choice and it is not our prerogative to supplant this judgment. The
choice may be perceived as erroneous but even then, the remedy
against it is to seek its amendment or repeal by the legislative. By
the principle of separation of powers, it is the legislative that
determines the necessity, adequacy, wisdom and expediency of any
68
law. We only step in when there is a violation of the Constitution.
However, none was sufficiently shown in this case.
_______________
66 Congressional Records, Vol. III, No. 51, January 14, 2004, pp. 141-147.
67 Lawyers Against Monopoly and Poverty (LAMP) v. The Secretary of Budget
and Management, G.R. No. 164987, April 24, 2012, 670 SCRA 373, 391.
68 Garcia v. Commission on Elections, G.R. No. 111511, October 5, 1993, 227
SCRA 100, 113-114.
410

Garcia vs. Drilon
R.A. 9262 does not violate the

guaranty of equal protection
of the laws.
Equal protection simply requires that all persons or things
similarly situated should be treated alike, both as to rights conferred
and responsibilities imposed. The oft-repeated disquisition in the
early case of Victoriano v. Elizalde Rope Workers’ Union69 is
instructive:
The guaranty of equal protection of the laws is not a guaranty of

equality in the application of the laws upon all citizens of the state. It
is not, therefore, a requirement, in order to avoid the constitutional
prohibition against inequality, that every man, woman and child
should be affected alike by a statute. Equality of operation of statutes
does not mean indiscriminate operation on persons merely as such,
but on persons according to the circumstances surrounding them. It
guarantees equality, not identity of rights. The Constitution does not
require that things which are different in fact be treated in law as
though they were the same. The equal protection clause does not
forbid discrimination as to things that are different. It does not
prohibit legislation which is limited either in the object to which it is
directed or by the territory within which it is to operate.
The equal protection of the laws clause of the Constitution allows
classification. Classification in law, as in the other departments of
knowledge or practice, is the grouping of things in speculation or
practice because they agree with one another in certain particulars. A
law is not invalid because of simple inequality. The very idea of
classification is that of inequality, so that it goes without saying that
the mere fact of inequality in no manner determines the matter of
constitutionality. All that is required of a valid classification is that it
be reasonable, which means that the classification should be based on
_______________
69 158 Phil. 60, 86-87; 59 SCRA 54, 77-78 (1974).
411
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 411

Garcia vs. Drilon
substantial distinctions which make for real differences; that it must

be germane to the purpose of the law; that it must not be limited
to existing conditions only; and that it must apply equally to each
member of the class. This Court has held that the standard is
satisfied if the classification or distinction is based on a reasonable
foundation or rational basis and is not palpably arbitrary. (Emphasis
supplied)
Measured against the foregoing jurisprudential yardstick, we find

that R.A. 9262 is based on a valid classification as shall hereinafter
be discussed and, as such, did not violate the equal protection clause
by favoring women over men as victims of violence and abuse to
whom the State extends its protection.
I. R.A. 9262 rests on substantial distinctions.
The unequal power relationship between women and men; the
fact that women are more likely than men to be victims of violence;
and the widespread gender bias and prejudice against women all
make for real differences justifying the classification under the law.
As Justice McIntyre succinctly states, “the accommodation of
differences ... is the essence of true equality.”70
A. Unequal power relationship
between men and women
According to the Philippine Commission on Women (the
National Machinery for Gender Equality and Women’s
Empowerment), violence against women (VAW) is deemed to be
closely linked with the unequal power relationship between
women and men otherwise known as “gender-based violence”.
Societal norms and traditions dictate people to
_______________
70 Andrews v. Law Society of British Columbia, [1989] 1 S.C.R. 143, p. 169.
412

Garcia vs. Drilon
think men are the leaders, pursuers, providers, and take on dominant
roles in society while women are nurturers, men’s companions and
supporters, and take on subordinate roles in society. This perception
leads to men gaining more power over women. With power comes
the need to control to retain that power. And VAW is a form of
men’s expression of controlling women to retain power.71
The United Nations, which has long recognized VAW as a human
rights issue, passed its Resolution 48/104 on the Declaration on
Elimination of Violence Against Women on December 20, 1993
stating that “violence against women is a manifestation of
historically unequal power relations between men and women,
which have led to domination over and discrimination against
women by men and to the prevention of the full advancement of
women, and that violence against women is one of the crucial social
mechanisms by which women are forced into subordinate positions,
compared with men.”72
Then Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno traced the historical and
social context of gender-based violence and developments in
advocacies to eradicate VAW, in his remarks delivered during the
Joint Launching of R.A. 9262 and its Implementing Rules last
October 27, 2004, the pertinent portions of which are quoted
hereunder:
History reveals that most societies sanctioned the use of violence

against women. The patriarch of a family was accorded the right to
use force on members of the family under his control. I quote the
early studies:
_______________
71 Philippine Commission on Women, National Machinery for Gender Equality and
Women’s Empowerment, “Violence Against Women (VAW),” <http://www.pcw.gov.ph>
(visited November 16, 2012).
72 <http://www.lawphil.net/international/treaties/dec_dec_1993.html> (visited November
16, 2012).
413
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 413

Garcia vs. Drilon
Traditions subordinating women have a long history rooted in

patriarchy—the institutional rule of men. Women were seen in
virtually all societies to be naturally inferior both physically and
intellectually. In ancient Western societies, women whether slave,
concubine or wife, were under the authority of men. In law, they
were treated as property.
The Roman concept of patria potestas allowed the husband to
beat, or even kill, his wife if she endangered his property right over
her. Judaism, Christianity and other religions oriented towards the
patriarchal family strengthened the male dominated structure of
society.
English feudal law reinforced the tradition of male control over
women. Even the eminent Blackstone has been quoted in his
commentaries as saying husband and wife were one and that one was
the husband. However, in the late 1500s and through the entire
1600s, English common law began to limit the right of husbands to
chastise their wives. Thus, common law developed the rule of thumb,
which allowed husbands to beat their wives with a rod or stick no
thicker than their thumb.
In the later part of the 19th century, legal recognition of these
rights to chastise wives or inflict corporeal punishment ceased. Even
then, the preservation of the family was given more importance than
preventing violence to women.
The metamorphosis of the law on violence in the United States
followed that of the English common law. In 1871, the Supreme
Court of Alabama became the first appellate court to strike down the
common law right of a husband to beat his wife:
The privilege, ancient though it may be, to beat one’s wife
with a stick, to pull her hair, choke her, spit in her face or kick
her about the floor, or to inflict upon her like indignities, is not
now acknowledged by our law... In person, the wife is entitled
to the same protection of the law that the husband can invoke
for himself.
414

Garcia vs. Drilon
As time marched on, the women’s advocacy movement became

more organized. The temperance leagues initiated it. These leagues
had a simple focus. They considered the evils of alcoholism as the
root cause of wife abuse. Hence, they demonstrated and picketed
saloons, bars and their husbands’ other watering holes. Soon,
however, their crusade was joined by suffragette movements,
expanding the liberation movement’s agenda. They fought for
women’s right to vote, to own property, and more. Since then, the
feminist movement was on the roll.
The feminist movement exposed the private invisibility of the
domestic violence to the public gaze. They succeeded in
transforming the issue into an important public concern. No less than
the United States Supreme Court, in 1992 case Planned Parenthood
v. Casey, noted:
In an average 12-month period in this country, approximately
two million women are the victims of severe assaults by their
male partners. In a 1985 survey, women reported that nearly
one of every eight husbands had assaulted their wives during
the past year. The [American Medical Association] views
these figures as “marked underestimates,” because the nature
of these incidents discourages women from reporting them,
and because surveys typically exclude the very poor, those
who do not speak English well, and women who are homeless
or in institutions or hospitals when the survey is conducted.
According to the AMA, “researchers on family violence agree
that the true incidence of partner violence is probably double
the above estimates; or four million severely assaulted women
per year.”
Studies on prevalence suggest that from one-fifth to one-third
of all women will be physically assaulted by a partner or ex-
partner during their lifetime... Thus on an average day in the
United States, nearly 11,000 women are severely assaulted by
their male partners. Many of these incidents involve sexual
assault... In families where wife beat-
415
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 415

Garcia vs. Drilon
ing takes place, moreover, child abuse is often present as well.

Other studies fill in the rest of this troubling picture. Physical
violence is only the most visible form of abuse. Psychological
abuse, particularly forced social and economic isolation of
women, is also common.
Many victims of domestic violence remain with their abusers,
perhaps because they perceive no superior alternative...Many
abused women who find temporary refuge in shelters return to
their husbands, in large part because they have no other source
of income... Returning to one’s abuser can be dangerous.
Recent Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics disclose that
8.8 percent of all homicide victims in the United States are
killed by their spouses...Thirty percent of female homicide
victims are killed by their male partners.
Finally in 1994, the United States Congress enacted the Violence
Against Women Act.
In the International front, the women’s struggle for equality was
no less successful. The United States Charter and the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights affirmed the equality of all human
beings. In 1979, the UN General Assembly adopted the landmark
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW). In 1993, the UN General Assembly also
adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against
Women. World conferences on the role and rights of women have
been regularly held in Mexico City, Copenhagen, Nairobi and
Beijing. The UN itself established a Commission on the Status of
Women.
The Philippines has been in cadence with the half — and full —
steps of all these women’s movements. No less than Section 14,
Article II of our 1987 Constitution mandates the State to recognize
the role of women in nation building and to ensure the fundamental
equality before the law of women and men. Our Senate has ratified
the CEDAW as well as the Convention on the Rights of
416

Garcia vs. Drilon
the Child and its two protocols. To cap it all, Congress, on March 8,
2004, enacted Rep. Act No. 9262, entitled “An Act Defining
Violence Against Women and Their Children, Providing for
Protective Measures for Victims, Prescribing Penalties therefor and
for other Purposes.” (Citations omitted)
B. Women are the “usual” and “most likely” victims of

violence.
At the time of the presentation of Senate Bill No. 2723, official
statistics on violence against women and children show that —
x x x physical injuries had the highest number of cases at 5,058 in

2002 representing 55.63% of total cases reported (9,903). And for the
first semester of 2003, there were 2,381 reported cases out of 4,354
cases which represent 54.31%. xxx (T)he total number of women in
especially difficult circumstances served by the Department of Social
Welfare and Development (DSWD) for the year 2002, there are 1,417
physically abused/maltreated cases out of the total of 5,608 cases.
xxx (T)here are 1,091 DSWD cases out of a total number of 3,471
cases for the first semester of 2003. Female violence comprised more
than 90% of all forms of abuse and violence and more than 90% of
these reported cases were committed by the women’s intimate
partners such as their husbands and live-in partners.73
Recently, the Philippine Commission on Women presented

comparative statistics on violence against women across an eight-
year period from 2004 to August of 2011 with violations
_______________
73 As reported by Senator Loi Estrada in her Sponsorship Speech, Congressional
Records, Vol. III, No. 45, December 10, 2003, p. 22.
417
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 417

Garcia vs. Drilon
under R.A. 9262 ranking first among the different VAW
categories since its implementation in 2004,74 thus:
Table 1. Annual Comparative Statistics on Violence Against Women, 2004 - 2011*
Reported Cases 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Rape 997 927 659 837 811 770 1,042 832
Incestuous Rape 38 46 26 22 28 27 19 23
Attempted Rape 194 148 185 147 204 167 268 201
Acts of Lasci-viousness 580 536 382 358 445 485 745 625
Physical Injuries 3,553 2,335 1,892 1,505 1,307 1,498 2,018 1,588
Sexual Harassment 53 37 38 46 18 54 83 63
RA 9262 218 924 1,269 2,387 3,599 5,285 9,974 9,021
Threats 319 223 199 182 220 208 374 213
Seduction 62 19 29 30 19 19 25 15
Concubinage 121 102 93 109 109 99 158 128
RA 9208 17 11 16 24 34 152 190 62
Abduction / Kidnapping 29 16 34 23 28 18 25 22
Unjust Vexation 90 50 59 59 83 703 183 155
Total 6,271 5,374 4,881 5,729 6,905 9,485 15,104 12,948
*2011 report covers only from January to August

Source: Philippine National Police – Women and Children Protection Center (WCPC)
On the other hand, no reliable estimates may be obtained on

domestic abuse and violence against men in the Philippines because
incidents thereof are relatively low and, perhaps, because many men
will not even attempt to report the
_______________
74 Philippine Commission on Women, “Statistics on Violence Against Filipino
Women,” <http://pcw.gov.ph/statistics/201210/statistics-violence-against-filipino-
women> (visited October 12, 2012).
418

Garcia vs. Drilon
situation. In the United Kingdom, 32% of women who had ever

experienced domestic violence did so four or five (or more) times,
compared with 11% of the smaller number of men who had ever
experienced domestic violence; and women constituted 89% of all
those who had experienced 4 or more incidents of domestic
violence.75 Statistics in Canada show that spousal violence by a
woman against a man is less likely to cause injury than the other
way around (18 percent versus 44 percent). Men, who experience
violence from their spouses are much less likely to live in fear of
violence at the hands of their spouses, and much less likely to
experience sexual assault. In fact, many cases of physical violence
by a woman against a spouse are in self-defense or the result of
many years of physical or emotional abuse.76
While there are, indeed, relatively few cases of violence and
abuse perpetrated against men in the Philippines, the same cannot
render R.A. 9262 invalid.
In a 1960 case involving the violation of a city ordinance
requiring drivers of animal-drawn vehicles to pick up, gather and
deposit in receptacles the manure emitted or discharged by their
vehicle-drawing animals in any public highways, streets, plazas,
parks or alleys, said ordinance was challenged as violative of the
guaranty of equal protection of laws as its application is limited to
owners and drivers of vehicle-drawing animals and not to those
animals, although not utilized, but similarly pass through the same
streets.
The ordinance was upheld as a valid classification for the reason
that, while there may be non-vehicle-drawing animals
_______________
75 Women’s Aid, “Who are the victims of domestic violence?,” citing Walby and
Allen, 2004, <www.womensaid.org.uk/domestic-violence-articles.asp?
section=00010001002200410001&itemid=1273 (visited November 16, 2012).
76 Toronto District School Board, Facts and Statistics
<www.tdsb.on.ca/site/viewitem.asp?siteid=15& menuid=23082&pageid=20007>
(visited November 16, 2012).
419
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 419
Garcia vs. Drilon
that also traverse the city roads, “but their number must be
negligible and their appearance therein merely occasional,
compared to the rig-drawing ones, as not to constitute a menace to
the health of the community.”77 The mere fact that the legislative
classification may result in actual inequality is not violative of the
right to equal protection, for every classification of persons or things
for regulation by law produces inequality in some degree, but the
law is not thereby rendered invalid.78
C. Gender bias and prejudices
From the initial report to the police through prosecution, trial,
and sentencing, crimes against women are often treated differently
and less seriously than other crimes. This was argued by then United
States Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr., now Vice President, chief
sponsor of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), in defending
the civil rights remedy as a valid exercise of the U.S. Congress’
authority under the Commerce and Equal Protection Clauses. He
stressed that the widespread gender bias in the U.S. has
institutionalized historic prejudices against victims of rape or
domestic violence, subjecting them to “double victimization”—first
at the hands of the offender and then of the legal system.79
Our own Senator Loi Estrada lamented in her Sponsorship
Speech for Senate Bill No. 2723 that “(w)henever violence occurs in
the family, the police treat it as a private matter and advise the
parties to settle the conflict themselves. Once the complainant brings
the case to the prosecutor, the latter is hesitant to file the complaint
for fear that it might later be
_______________
77 People v. Solon, 110 Phil. 39, 41 (1960).
78 Victoriano v. Elizalde Rope Workers’ Union, supra note 69, p. 90; p. 80.
79 Biden, Jr., Joseph R., “The Civil Rights Remedy of the Violence Against Women
Act: A Defense,” 37 Harvard Journal on Legislation 1 (Winter, 2000).
420

Garcia vs. Drilon
withdrawn. This lack of response or reluctance to be involved by the

police and prosecution reinforces the escalating, recurring and often
serious nature of domestic violence.”80
Sadly, our own courts, as well, have exhibited prejudices and
biases against our women.
In a recent case resolved on March 9, 2011, we fined RTC Judge
Venancio J. Amila for Conduct Unbecoming of a Judge. He used
derogatory and irreverent language in reference to the complainant
in a petition for TPO and PPO under R.A. 9262, calling her as “only
a live-in partner” and presenting her as an “opportunist” and a
“mistress” in an “illegitimate relationship.” Judge Amila even called
her a “prostitute,” and accused her of being motivated by “insatiable
greed” and of absconding with the contested property.81 Such
remarks betrayed Judge Amila’s prejudices and lack of gender
sensitivity.
The enactment of R.A. 9262 aims to address the discrimination
brought about by biases and prejudices against women. As
emphasized by the CEDAW Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women, addressing or correcting
discrimination through specific measures focused on women does
not discriminate against men.82 Petitioner’s contention,83 therefore,
that R.A. 9262 is discriminatory and that it is an “anti-male,”
“husband-bashing,” and “hate-men” law deserves scant
consideration. As a State Party to the CEDAW, the Philippines
bound itself to take all appropriate measures “to modify the social
and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to
achieving the elimi-
_______________
80 Congressional Records, Vol. III, No. 45, December 10, 2003, pp. 22-23.
81 Benancillo v. Amila, A.M. No. RTJ-08-2149, March 9, 2011, 645 SCRA 1, 8.
82 “General recommendation No. 25, on article 4, paragraph 1, of the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, on temporary
special measures” <www.un.org/
womenwatch/.../recommendation> (visited January 4, 2013).
421
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 421

Garcia vs. Drilon
nation of prejudices and customary and all other practices which

are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of
the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women.”84 Justice
Puno correctly pointed out that “(t)he paradigm shift changing the
character of domestic violence from a private affair to a public
offense will require the development of a distinct mindset on the part
of the police, the prosecution and the judges.”85
II. The classification is germane to the purpose of the
law.
The distinction between men and women is germane to the
purpose of R.A. 9262, which is to address violence committed
against women and children, spelled out in its Declaration of Policy,
as follows:
SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy.—It is hereby declared that the State

values the dignity of women and children and guarantees full respect
for human rights. The State also recognizes the need to protect the
family and its members particularly women and children, from
violence and threats to their personal safety and security.
Towards this end, the State shall exert efforts to address violence
committed against women and children in keeping with the
fundamental freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution and the
provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women, Convention on the Rights of the Child and other
international human rights instruments of which the Philippines is a
party.
_______________
84 Article 5(a), CEDAW.
85 “The Rule on Violence Against Women and Their Children,” Remarks delivered
during the Joint Launching of R.A. 9262 and its Implementing Rules last October 27,
2004 at the Session Hall of the Supreme Court.
422

Garcia vs. Drilon
In 1979, the U.N. General Assembly adopted the CEDAW, which

the Philippines ratified on August 5, 1981. Subsequently, the
Optional Protocol to the CEDAW was also ratified by the
Philippines on October 6, 2003.86 This Convention mandates that
State parties shall accord to women equality with men before the
law87 and shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate
discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and
family relations on the basis of equality of men and women.88 The
Philippines likewise ratified the Convention on the Rights of the
Child and its two protocols.89 It is, thus, bound by said Conventions
and their respective protocols.
III. The classification is not limited to existing conditions
only, and apply equally to all members
Moreover, the application of R.A. 9262 is not limited to the
existing conditions when it was promulgated, but to future
conditions as well, for as long as the safety and security of women
and their children are threatened by violence and abuse.
R.A. 9262 applies equally to all women and children who suffer
violence and abuse. Section 3 thereof defines VAWC as:
x x x any act or a series of acts committed by any person against a
woman who is his wife, former wife, or against a woman 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 result in or is
likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological harm or suffering,
or economic abuse including threats of such acts, battery, assault,
coercion, harass-
_______________
86 Supra note 49.
87 Article 15.
88 Article 16.
89 Supra note 49.
423
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 423

Garcia vs. Drilon
ment or arbitrary deprivation of liberty. It includes, but is not limited

to, the following acts:
A. “Physical Violence” refers to acts that include bodily or
physical harm;
B. “Sexual violence” refers to an act which is sexual in nature,
committed against a woman or her child. It includes, but is not
limited to:
a) rape, sexual harassment, acts of lasciviousness, treating a
woman or her child as a sex object, making demeaning and
sexually suggestive remarks, physically attacking the sexual
parts of the victim’s body, forcing her/him to watch obscene
publications and indecent shows or forcing the woman or her
child to do indecent acts and/or make films thereof, forcing
the wife and mistress/lover to live in the conjugal home or
sleep together in the same room with the abuser;
b) acts causing or attempting to cause the victim to engage
in any sexual activity by force, threat of force, physical or
other harm or threat of physical or other harm or coercion;
c) Prostituting the woman or child.
C. “Psychological violence” refers to acts or omissions causing or
likely to cause mental or emotional suffering of the victim such as
but not limited to intimidation, harassment, stalking, damage to
property, public ridicule or humiliation, repeated verbal abuse and
marital infidelity. It includes causing or allowing the victim to
witness the physical, sexual or psychological abuse of a member of
the family to which the victim belongs, or to witness pornography in
any form or to witness abusive injury to pets or to unlawful or
unwanted deprivation of the right to custody and/or visitation of
common children.
D. “Economic abuse” refers to acts that make or attempt to make a
woman financially dependent which includes, but is not limited to the
following:
1. withdrawal of financial support or preventing the victim
from engaging in any legitimate profes-
424

Garcia vs. Drilon
sion, occupation, business or activity, except in cases wherein

the other spouse/partner objects on valid, serious and moral
grounds as defined in Article 73 of the Family Code;
2. deprivation or threat of deprivation of financial resources
and the right to the use and enjoyment of the conjugal,
community or property owned in common;
3. destroying household property;
4. controlling the victims’ own money or properties or solely
controlling the conjugal money or properties.
It should be stressed that the acts enumerated in the aforequoted

provision are attributable to research that has exposed the
dimensions and dynamics of battery. The acts described here are also
found in the U.N. Declaration on the Elimination of Violence
Against Women.90 Hence, the argument advanced by petitioner that
the definition of what constitutes abuse removes the difference
between violent action and simple marital tiffs is tenuous.
There is nothing in the definition of VAWC that is vague and
ambiguous that will confuse petitioner in his defense. The acts
enumerated above are easily understood and provide adequate
contrast between the innocent and the prohibited acts. They are
worded with sufficient definiteness that persons of ordinary
intelligence can understand what conduct is prohibited, and need not
guess at its meaning nor differ in its application.91 Yet, petitioner
insists92 that phrases like “depriving or threatening to deprive the
woman or her child of a legal right,” “solely controlling the conjugal
or common money or properties,” “marital infidelity,” and “causing
mental or
_______________
90 Supra note 49.
91 Estrada v. Sandiganbayan, 421 Phil. 290, 351-352; 369 SCRA 394, 439
(2001).
425
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 425

Garcia vs. Drilon
emotional anguish” are so vague that they make every quarrel a case
of spousal abuse. However, we have stressed that the “vagueness”
doctrine merely requires a reasonable degree of certainty for the
statute to be upheld — not absolute precision or mathematical
exactitude, as petitioner seems to suggest. Flexibility, rather than
meticulous specificity, is permissible as long as the metes and
bounds of the statute are clearly delineated. An act will not be held
invalid merely because it might have been more explicit in its
wordings or detailed in its provisions.93
There is likewise no merit to the contention that R.A. 9262
singles out the husband or father as the culprit. As defined above,
VAWC may likewise be committed “against a woman with whom
the person has or had a sexual or dating relationship.” Clearly, the
use of the gender-neutral word “person” who has or had a sexual or
dating relationship with the woman encompasses even lesbian
relationships. Moreover, while the law provides that the offender be
related or connected to the victim by marriage, former marriage, or a
sexual or dating relationship, it does not preclude the application of
the principle of conspiracy under the Revised Penal Code (RPC).
Thus, in the case of Go-Tan v. Spouses Tan,94 the parents-in-law of
Sharica Mari L. Go-Tan, the victim, were held to be proper
respondents in the case filed by the latter upon the allegation that
they and their son (Go-Tan’s husband) had community of design and
purpose in tormenting her by giving her insufficient financial
support; harassing and pressuring her to be ejected from the family
home; and in repeatedly abusing her verbally, emotionally, mentally
and physically.
_______________
93 Estrada v. Sandiganbayan, supra note 91, at pp. 352-353; p. 440.
94 G.R. No. 168852, September 30, 2008, 567 SCRA 231.
426

Garcia vs. Drilon
R.A. 9262 is not violative of the due

process clause of the Constitution.
Petitioner bewails the disregard of R.A. 9262, specifically in the
issuance of POs, of all protections afforded by the due process
clause of the Constitution. Says he: “On the basis of unsubstantiated
allegations, and practically no opportunity to respond, the husband is
stripped of family, property, guns, money, children, job, future
employment and reputation, all in a matter of seconds, without an
inkling of what happened.”95
A protection order is an order issued to prevent further acts of
violence against women and their children, their family or household
members, and to grant other necessary reliefs. Its purpose is to
safeguard the offended parties from further harm, minimize any
disruption in their daily life and facilitate the opportunity and ability
to regain control of their life.96“The scope of reliefs in protection
orders is broadened to ensure that the victim or offended party is
afforded all the remedies necessary to curtail access by a perpetrator
to the victim. This serves to safeguard the victim from greater risk of
violence; to accord the victim and any designated family or
household member safety in the family residence, and to prevent the
perpetrator from committing acts that jeopardize the employment
and support of the victim. It also enables the court to award
temporary custody of minor children to protect the children from
violence, to prevent their abduction by the perpetrator and to ensure
their financial support.”97
The rules require that petitions for protection order be in writing,
signed and verified by the petitioner98 thereby under-
_______________
96 Sec. 4 (o), A.M. No. 04-10-11-SC.
97 Supra note 49.
98 Sec. 7, A.M. No. 04-10-11-SC.
427
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 427

Garcia vs. Drilon
taking full responsibility, criminal or civil, for every allegation

therein. Since “time is of the essence in cases of VAWC if further
violence is to be prevented,”99 the court is authorized to issue ex
parte a TPO after raffle but before notice and hearing when the life,
limb or property of the victim is in jeopardy and there is reasonable
ground to believe that the order is necessary to protect the victim
from the immediate and imminent danger of VAWC or to prevent
such violence, which is about to recur.100
There need not be any fear that the judge may have no rational
basis to issue an ex parte order. The victim is required not only to
verify the allegations in the petition, but also to attach her witnesses’
affidavits to the petition.101
The grant of a TPO ex parte cannot, therefore, be challenged as
violative of the right to due process. Just like a writ of preliminary
attachment which is issued without notice and hearing because the
time in which the hearing will take could be enough to enable the
defendant to abscond or dispose of his property,102 in the same way,
the victim of VAWC may already have suffered harrowing
experiences in the hands of her tormentor, and possibly even death,
if notice and hearing were required before such acts could be
prevented. It is a constitutional commonplace that the ordinary
requirements of procedural due process must yield to the necessities
of protecting vital public interests,103 among which is protection of
women and children from violence and threats to their personal
safety and security.
_______________
99 Supra note 49.
100 Id.
101 Supra note 85.
102 Cuartero v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 102448, August 5, 1992, 212 SCRA
260, 265.
103 Laguna Lake Development Authority v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 110120,
March 16, 1994, 231 SCRA 292, 307, citing Pollution Adjudication Board v. Court of
Appeals, G.R. No. 93891, March 11, 1991, 195 SCRA 112.
428
Garcia vs. Drilon
It should be pointed out that when the TPO is issued ex parte, the
court shall likewise order that notice be immediately given to the
respondent directing him to file an opposition within five (5) days
from service. Moreover, the court shall order that notice, copies of
the petition and TPO be served immediately on the respondent by
the court sheriffs. The TPOs are initially effective for thirty (30)
days from service on the respondent.104
Where no TPO is issued ex parte, the court will nonetheless
order the immediate issuance and service of the notice upon the
respondent requiring him to file an opposition to the petition within
five (5) days from service. The date of the preliminary conference
and hearing on the merits shall likewise be indicated on the
notice.105
The opposition to the petition which the respondent himself shall
verify, must be accompanied by the affidavits of witnesses and shall
show cause why a temporary or permanent protection order should
not be issued.106
It is clear from the foregoing rules that the respondent of a
petition for protection order should be apprised of the charges
imputed to him and afforded an opportunity to present his side.
Thus, the fear of petitioner of being “stripped of family, property,
guns, money, children, job, future employment and reputation, all in
a matter of seconds, without an inkling of what happened” is a mere
product of an overactive imagination. The essence of due process is
to be found in the reasonable opportunity to be heard and submit any
evidence one may have in support of one’s defense. “To be heard”
does not only mean verbal arguments in court; one may be heard
also through pleadings. Where opportunity to be heard, either
_______________
104 Sec. 15, A.M. No. 04-10-11-SC.
105 Sec. 16, A.M. No. 04-10-11-SC.
106 Sec. 20, A.M. No. 04-10-11-SC.
429
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 429

Garcia vs. Drilon
through oral arguments or pleadings, is accorded, there is no denial

of procedural due process.107
It should be recalled that petitioner filed on April 26, 2006 an
Opposition to the Urgent Ex-Parte Motion for Renewal of the TPO
that was granted only two days earlier on April 24, 2006. Likewise,
on May 23, 2006, petitioner filed a motion for the modification of
the TPO to allow him visitation rights to his children. Still, the trial
court in its Order dated September 26, 2006, gave him five days (5)
within which to show cause why the TPO should not be renewed or
extended. Yet, he chose not to file the required comment arguing that
it would just be an “exercise in futility,” conveniently forgetting that
the renewal of the questioned TPO was only for a limited period (30
days) each time, and that he could prevent the continued renewal of
said order if he can show sufficient cause therefor. Having failed to
do so, petitioner may not now be heard to complain that he was
denied due process of law.
Petitioner next laments that the removal and exclusion of the
respondent in the VAWC case from the residence of the victim,
regardless of ownership of the residence, is virtually a “blank check”
issued to the wife to claim any property as her conjugal home.108
The wording of the pertinent rule, however, does not by any
stretch of the imagination suggest that this is so. It states:
SEC. 11. Reliefs available to the offended party.—The protection

order shall include any, some or all of the following reliefs:
xxxx
(c) Removing and excluding the respondent from the residence
of the offended party, regardless of owner-
_______________
107 Esperida v. Jurado, Jr., G.R. No. 172538, April 25, 2012, 671 SCRA 66, 74.
108 Petition, Rollo, pp. 30-31.
430

Garcia vs. Drilon
ship of the residence, either temporarily for the purpose of protecting

the offended party, or permanently where no property rights are
violated. If the respondent must remove personal effects from the
residence, the court shall direct a law enforcement agent to
accompany the respondent to the residence, remain there until the
respondent has gathered his things and escort him from the residence;
xxxx
Indubitably, petitioner may be removed and excluded from

private respondent’s residence, regardless of ownership, only
temporarily for the purpose of protecting the latter. Such removal
and exclusion may be permanent only where no property rights are
violated. How then can the private respondent just claim any
property and appropriate it for herself, as petitioner seems to
suggest?
The non-referral of a VAWC case
to a mediator is justified.
Petitioner argues that “by criminalizing run-of-the-mill
arguments, instead of encouraging mediation and counseling, the
law has done violence to the avowed policy of the State to “protect
and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social
institution.”109
Under Section 23(c) of A.M. No. 04-10-11-SC, the court shall
not refer the case or any issue thereof to a mediator. The reason
behind this provision is well-explained by the Commentary on
Section 311 of the Model Code on Domestic and Family Violence as
follows:110
This section prohibits a court from ordering or referring parties to

mediation in a proceeding for an order for pro-
_______________
109 Id., at p. 36.
110 Supra note 49.
431
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 431

Garcia vs. Drilon
tection. Mediation is a process by which parties in equivalent

bargaining positions voluntarily reach consensual agreement about
the issue at hand. Violence, however, is not a subject for
compromise. A process which involves parties mediating the issue
of violence implies that the victim is somehow at fault. In addition,
mediation of issues in a proceeding for an order of protection is
problematic because the petitioner is frequently unable to participate
equally with the person against whom the protection order has been
sought. (Emphasis supplied)
There is no undue delegation of

judicial power to barangay officials.
Petitioner contends that protection orders involve the exercise of
judicial power which, under the Constitution, is placed upon the
“Supreme Court and such other lower courts as may be established
by law” and, thus, protests the delegation of power to barangay
officials to issue protection orders.111 The pertinent provision reads,
as follows:
SEC. 14. Barangay Protection Orders (BPOs); Who May Issue

and How.—Barangay Protection Orders (BPOs) refer to the
protection order issued by the Punong Barangay ordering the
perpetrator to desist from committing acts under Section 5 (a) and (b)
of this Act. A Punong Barangay who receives applications for a BPO
shall issue the protection order to the applicant on the date of filing
after ex parte determination of the basis of the application. If the
Punong Barangay is unavailable to act on the application for a BPO,
the application shall be acted upon by any available Barangay
Kagawad. If the BPO is issued by a Barangay Kagawad, the order
must be accompanied by an attestation by the Barangay Kagawad
that the Punong Barangay was unavailable at the time of the issuance
of the BPO. BPOs shall be effective for fifteen
_______________
111 Petition, Rollo, pp. 130-131.
432

Garcia vs. Drilon
(15) days. Immediately after the issuance of an ex parte BPO, the

Punong Barangay or Barangay Kagawad shall personally serve a
copy of the same on the respondent, or direct any barangay official to
effect its personal service.
The parties may be accompanied by a non-lawyer advocate in any
proceeding before the Punong Barangay.
Judicial power includes the duty of the courts of justice to settle

actual controversies involving rights which are legally demandable
and enforceable, and to determine whether or not there has been a
grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction
on the part of any branch or instrumentality of the Government.112
On the other hand, executive power “is generally defined as the
power to enforce and administer the laws. It is the power of carrying
the laws into practical operation and enforcing their due
observance.”113
As clearly delimited by the aforequoted provision, the BPO
issued by the Punong Barangay or, in his unavailability, by any
available Barangay Kagawad, merely orders the perpetrator to desist
from (a) causing physical harm to the woman or her child; and (2)
threatening to cause the woman or her child physical harm. Such
function of the Punong Barangay is, thus, purely executive in
nature, in pursuance of his duty under the Local Government Code
to “enforce all laws and ordinances,” and to “maintain public order
in the barangay.”114
We have held that “(t)he mere fact that an officer is required by
law to inquire into the existence of certain facts and to apply the law
thereto in order to determine what his official conduct shall be and
the fact that these acts may affect
_______________
112 Sec. 1, Article VIII, 1987 Constitution.
113 Laurel v. Desierto, 430 Phil. 658; 381 SCRA 48 (2002).
114 People v. Tomaquin, 478 Phil. 885, 899; 435 SCRA 23, 36 (2004), citing
Section 389, Chapter 3, Title One, Book III, Local Government Code of 1991, as
amended.
433
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 433

Garcia vs. Drilon
private rights do not constitute an exercise of judicial powers.”115

In the same manner as the public prosecutor ascertains through a
preliminary inquiry or proceeding “whether there is reasonable
ground to believe that an offense has been committed and the
accused is probably guilty thereof,” the Punong Barangay must
determine reasonable ground to believe that an imminent danger of
violence against the woman and her children exists or is about to
recur that would necessitate the issuance of a BPO. The preliminary
investigation conducted by the prosecutor is, concededly, an
executive, not a judicial, function. The same holds true with the
issuance of a BPO.
We need not even belabor the issue raised by petitioner that since
barangay officials and other law enforcement agencies are required
to extend assistance to victims of violence and abuse, it would be
very unlikely that they would remain objective and impartial, and
that the chances of acquittal are nil. As already stated, assistance by
barangay officials and other law enforcement agencies is consistent
with their duty to enforce the law and to maintain peace and order.
Conclusion
Before a statute or its provisions duly challenged are voided, an
unequivocal breach or a clear conflict with the Constitution, not
merely a doubtful or argumentative one, must be demonstrated in
such a manner as to leave no doubt in the mind of the Court. In other
words, the grounds for nullity must be beyond reasonable doubt.116
In the instant case, however, no concrete evidence and convincing
arguments were presented by petitioner to warrant a declaration
_______________
115 Lovina and Montilla v. Moreno and Yonzon, 118 Phil 1401, 1406; 9 SCRA
557, 561 (1963).
116 Hacienda Luisita, Incorporated v. Presidential Agrarian Reform Council,
G.R. No. 171101, July 5, 2011, 653 SCRA 154, 258.
434

Garcia vs. Drilon
of the unconstitutionality of R.A. 9262, which is an act of Congress

and signed into law by the highest officer of the co-equal executive
department. As we said in Estrada v. Sandiganbayan,117 courts must
assume that the legislature is ever conscious of the borders and
edges of its plenary powers, and passed laws with full knowledge of
the facts and for the purpose of promoting what is right and
advancing the welfare of the majority.
We reiterate here Justice Puno’s observation that “the history of
the women’s movement against domestic violence shows that one of
its most difficult struggles was the fight against the violence of law
itself. If we keep that in mind, law will not again be a hindrance to
the struggle of women for equality but will be its fulfillment.”118
Accordingly, the constitutionality of R.A. 9262 is, as it should be,
sustained.
WHEREFORE, the instant petition for review on certiorari is
hereby DENIED for lack of merit.
SO ORDERED.
Sereno (CJ.), Carpio, Velasco, Jr., Bersamin, Del Castillo,

Villarama, Jr., Perez, Mendoza and Reyes, JJ., concur.
Leonardo-De Castro, Abad and Leonen JJ., See Separate
Concurring Opinion.
Brion, J., See: Concurring Opinion.
Peralta, J., On official leave.
_______________
117 Supra note 91.
118 Supra note 85.
435
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 435

Garcia vs. Drilon
CONCURRING OPINION
LEONARDO-DE CASTRO, J.:
I concur with the conclusion reached in the ponencia ably written
by the Honorable Estela Perlas-Bernabe. With due respect, however,
I submit that the test to determine an equal protection challenge
against the law, denying statutory remedies to men who are similarly
situated as the women who are given differential treatment in the
law, on the basis of sex or gender, should be at the level of
intermediate scrutiny or middle-tier judicial scrutiny rather than
the rational basis test used in the ponencia of Justice Bernabe.
This Petition for Review on Certiorari assails: (1) the Decision
dated January 24, 2007 of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CEB-SP
No. 01698 dismissing the Petition for Prohibition with Injunction
and Temporary Restraining Order (Petition for Prohibition) which
questioned the constitutionality of Republic Act No. 9262, otherwise
known as the “Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children
Act of 2004,” and sought a temporary restraining order and/or
injunction to prevent the implementation of the Temporary
Protection Order (TPO) and criminal prosecution of herein petitioner
Jesus A. Garcia under the law; and (2) the Resolution dated August
14, 2007, denying petitioner’s Motion for Reconsideration of the
said Decision.
At the outset, it should be stressed that the Court of Appeals, in
its assailed Decision and Resolution, did not pass upon the issue of
constitutionality of Republic Act No. 9262 and instead dismissed the
Petition for Prohibition on technical grounds, as follows:
1. The constitutional issue was raised for the first time on appeal
before the Court of Appeals by petitioner and not at the earliest
opportunity, which should be before the Regional Trial Court (RTC),
Branch 41, Bacolod City, acting as a Family Court, where private
respondent Rosalie Garcia, wife of
436

Garcia vs. Drilon
petitioner, instituted a Petition for Temporary and Permanent

Protection Order[s]1 under Republic Act No. 9262, against her
husband, petitioner Jesus C. Garcia; and
2. The constitutionality of Republic Act No. 9262 can only be
questioned in a direct action and it cannot be the subject of a
collateral attack in a petition for prohibition, as the inferior court
having jurisdiction on the action may itself determine the
constitutionality of the statute, and the latter’s decision on the matter
may be reviewed on appeal and not by a writ of prohibition, as it
was held in People v. Vera.2
Hence, the Court of Appeals Decision and Resolution denied due
course to the Petition for Prohibition “for being fraught with fatal
technical infirmities” and for not being ripe for judicial review.
Nevertheless, four out of the five issues raised by the petitioner here
dealt with the alleged unconstitutionality of Republic Act No. 9262.
More accurately put, however, the Court of Appeals refrained from
touching at all those four substantive issues of constitutionality. The
Court of Appeals cannot therefore be faulted for any erroneous
ruling on the aforesaid substantive constitutional issues.
In this instant Petition for Review, the only issue directly in point
that can be raised against the Court of Appeals Decision and
Resolution is the first one cited as a ground for the appeal, which I
quote:
THE COURT OF APPEALS ERRED IN DISMISSING THE PETITION

ON THE THEORY THAT THE ISSUE OF CONSTITUTIONALITY WAS
NOT RAISED AT THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY AND THAT, THE
PETITION WAS A COLLATERAL ATTACK ON THE VALIDITY OF
THE LAW.3
Under the circumstances, whether this Court should consider this

Petition for Review as a proper occasion to pass
_______________
1 Rollo, pp. 63-83.
2 65 Phil. 56 (1937).
3 Rollo, p. 22.
437
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 437

Garcia vs. Drilon
upon the constitutionality of Republic Act No. 9262 shall be a

separate subject matter that is tackled below after the above-quoted
first issue is disposed of.
On the Propriety of Raising the
Issue of Constitutionality in a
Summary Proceeding Before the
RTC Designated as a Family Court
Petitioner assails the Court of Appeals ruling that he should have
raised the issue of constitutionality in his Opposition4 to private
respondent’s petition for protective orders pending before the RTC
for the following reasons:
1. The Rules on Violence Against Women and Children (A.M.
No. 04-10-11-SC), particularly Section 20 thereof, expressly prohibit
him from alleging any counterclaim, cross-claim or third party
claim, all of which are personal to him and therefore with more
reason, he cannot impugn the constitutionality of the law by way of
affirmative defense.5
2. Since the proceedings before the Family Court are summary
in nature, its limited jurisdiction is inadequate to tackle the complex
issue of constitutionality.6
I agree with Justice Bernabe that the RTC, designated as a Family
Court, is vested with jurisdiction to decide issues of constitutionality
of a law, and that the constitutionality of Republic Act No. 9262 can
be resolved in a summary proceeding, in accordance with the rule
that the question of constitutionality must be raised at the earliest
opportunity, otherwise it may not be considered on appeal.
Section 20 of A.M. No. 04-10-11-SC, the Rule on Republic Act
No. 9262 provides:
_______________
4 Id., at pp. 98-103.
5 Id., at p. 23.
6 Id., at p. 24.
438

Garcia vs. Drilon
Sec. 20. Opposition to Petition.—(a) The respondent may file

an opposition to the petition which he himself shall verify. It must be
accompanied by the affidavits of witnesses and shall show cause why
a temporary or permanent protection order should not be issued.
(b) Respondent shall not include in the opposition any
counterclaim, cross-claim or third-party complaint, but any cause of
action which could be the subject thereof may be litigated in a
separate civil action. (Emphasis supplied.)
Petitioner cites the above provision, particularly paragraph (b)

thereof, as one of his grounds for not challenging the
constitutionality of Republic Act No. 9262 in his Opposition. The
error of such reasoning is that it treats “any cause of action”
mentioned in Section 20(b) as distinct from the “counterclaim,
cross-claim or third-party complaint” referred to in the said Section
20(b). On the contrary, the language of said section clearly refers to
a cause of action that is the “subject” of the counterclaim, cross-
claim, or third-party complaint, which is barred and which may be
litigated in a separate civil action. The issue of constitutionality is
not a “cause of action” that is a subject of the aforementioned
prohibited pleadings. In fact, petitioner admitted that such prohibited
pleadings would allege “claims which are personal to him.”7 Hence,
Section 20(b) cannot even be invoked as a basis for filing the
separate special civil action of Petition for Prohibition before the
Court of Appeals to question the constitutionality of Republic Act
No. 9262.
What obviously escapes petitioner’s understanding is that the
contents of the Opposition are not limited to mere refutations of the
allegations in the petition for temporary and permanent protection
order. While it is true that A.M. No. 04-10-11-SC requires the
respondent to file an Opposition and not
_______________
7 Id., at p. 309, Petitioner’s Memorandum.
439
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 439
Garcia vs. Drilon
an Answer,8 it does not prevent petitioner from challenging the

constitutionality of Republic Act No. 9262 in such Opposition. In
fact, Section 20(a) directs petitioner to state in his Opposition why a
temporary or permanent protection order should not be issued
against him. This means that petitioner should have raised in his
Opposition all defenses available to him, which may be either
negative or affirmative. Section 5(b), Rule 6 of the Rules of Court
define negative and affirmative defenses as follows:
(a) A negative defense is the specific denial of the material fact

or facts alleged in the pleading of the claimant essential to his cause
or causes of action.
(b) An affirmative defense is an allegation of a new matter
which, while hypothetically admitting the material allegations in the
pleading of the claimant, would nevertheless prevent or bar recovery
by him. The affirmative defenses include fraud, statute of limitations,
release, payment, illegality, statute of frauds, estoppel, former
recovery, discharge in bankruptcy, and any other matter by way of
confession and avoidance.
In Bayog v. Hon. Natino,9 the respondent, in a complaint for

ejectment before the Municipal Circuit Trial Court (MCTC), raised
as one of his defenses, the MCTC’s lack of jurisdiction over the case
in light of the agricultural tenancy relationship between him and the
petitioner. The MCTC applied the Rule on Summary Procedure and
issued an Order stating that it could not take cognizance of the
Answer, for being filed belatedly. This Court ruled that while the
MCTC was correct in applying the Rule on Summary Procedure as
the complaint was one for ejectment, it should have met and ruled
squarely on the issue of jurisdiction, as there was nothing in the
rules that barred it from admitting the Answer.
_______________
8 Rationale of the Proposed Rule on Violence Against Women and their Children,
15th Salient Feature.
9 327 Phil. 1019; 258 SCRA 378 (1996).
440

Garcia vs. Drilon
Hence, the MCTC should have heard and received evidence for the
precise purpose of determining whether or not it possessed
jurisdiction over the case.10
Similarly, the alleged unconstitutionality of Republic Act No.
9262 is a matter that would have prevented the trial court from
granting the petition for protection order against the petitioner. Thus,
petitioner should have raised it in his Opposition as a defense
against the issuance of a protection order against him.
For all intents and purposes, the Petition for Prohibition filed
before the Court of Appeals was precipitated by and was ultimately
directed against the issuance of the TPO, an interlocutory order,
which under Section 22(j) of A.M. No. 04-10-11-SC is a prohibited
pleading. An action questioning the constitutionality of the law also
cannot be filed separately even with another branch of the RTC. This
is not technically feasible because there will be no justiciable
controversy or an independent cause of action that can be the subject
of such separate action if it were not for the issuance of the TPO
against the petitioner. Thus, the controversy, subject of a separate
action, whether before the Court of Appeals or the RTC, would still
have to be the issuance of the TPO, which is the subject of another
case in the RTC.
Moreover, the challenge to the constitutionality of the law must
be raised at the earliest opportunity. In Dasmariñas Water District v.
Monterey Foods Corporation,11 we said:
A law is deemed valid unless declared null and void by a

competent court; more so when the issue has not been duly pleaded
in the trial court. The question of constitutionality must be raised at
the earliest opportunity. x x x. The settled rule is that courts will not
anticipate a question of constitutional law in advance of the necessity
of deciding it. (Citation omitted.)
_______________
10 Id., at pp. 1036-1037; p. 394.
11 G.R. No. 175550, September 17, 2008, 565 SCRA 624, 637.
441
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 441

Garcia vs. Drilon
This Court held that such opportunity is in the pleadings before a

competent court that can resolve it, such that “if it is not raised in the
pleadings, it cannot be considered at the trial, and, if not considered
at the trial, it cannot be considered on appeal.”12 The decision upon
the constitutional question is necessary to determine whether the
TPO should be issued against petitioner. Such question should have
been raised at the earliest opportunity as an affirmative defense in
the Opposition filed with the RTC handling the protection order
proceedings, which was the competent court to pass upon the
constitutional issue. This Court, in Drilon v. Lim,13 held:
We stress at the outset that the lower court had jurisdiction to

consider the constitutionality of Section 187, this authority being
embraced in the general definition of the judicial power to
determine what are the valid and binding laws by the criterion of
their conformity to the fundamental law. Specifically, BP 129
vests in the regional trial courts jurisdiction over all civil cases in
which the subject of the litigation is incapable of pecuniary
estimation, even as the accused in a criminal action has the right
to question in his defense the constitutionality of a law he is
charged with violating and of the proceedings taken against him,
particularly as they contravene the Bill of Rights. Moreover,
Article X, Section 5(2), of the Constitution vests in the Supreme
Court appellate jurisdiction over final judgments and orders of lower
courts in all cases in which the constitutionality or validity of any
treaty, international or executive agreement, law, presidential decree,
proclamation, order, instruction, ordinance, or regulation is in
question. (Citation omitted, emphases ours.)
_______________
12 Matibag v. Benipayo, 429 Phil. 554, 578; 380 SCRA 49, 65 (2002).
13 G.R. No. 112497, August 4, 1994, 235 SCRA 135, 139-140.
442

Garcia vs. Drilon
Furthermore, the filing of a separate action before the Court of

Appeals or the RTC for the declaration of unconstitutionality of
Republic Act No. 9262 would result to multiplicity of suits. It is
clear that the issues of constitutionality and propriety of issuing a
protection order raised by petitioner are inextricably intertwined.
Another court, whether it is an appellate court or a trial court, cannot
resolve the constitutionality question in the separate action without
affecting the petition for the issuance of a TPO. Bringing a separate
action for the resolution of the issue of constitutionality will result in
an unresolved prejudicial question to the validity of issuing a
protection order. If the proceedings for the protection order is not
suspended, it does create the danger of having inconsistent and
conflicting judgments between the two separate courts, whether of
the same or different levels in the judicial hierarchy. These two
judgments would eventually be the subject of separate motions for
reconsideration, separate appeals, and separate petitions for review
before this Court — the exact scenario the policy against
multiplicity of suits is avoiding. As we previously held, “the law and
the courts frown upon split jurisdiction and the resultant multiplicity
of actions.”14
It must be remembered that aside from the “earliest opportunity”
requirement, the court’s power of judicial review is subject to other
limitations. Two of which are the existence of an actual case or
controversy and standing. An aspect of the actual case or
controversy requirement is the requisite of “ripeness.” This is
generally treated in terms of actual injury to the plaintiff. Thus, a
question is ripe for adjudication when the act being challenged had a
direct adverse effect on the individual challenging it. This direct
adverse effect on the individual will also be the basis of his standing
as it is necessary that the person challenging the law must have a
personal and substantial interest in the case such that he has
_______________
14 Presidential Commission on Good Government v. Peña, 243 Phil. 93, 106; 159
SCRA 556, 565 (1988).
443
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 443

Garcia vs. Drilon
sustained, or will sustain direct injury as a result of its

enforcement.15
In this case, the petitioner’s challenge on the constitutionality of
Republic Act No. 9262 was on the basis of the protection order
issued against him. Verily, the controversy became ripe only when
he was in danger of or was directly adversely affected by the statute
mandating the issuance of a protection order against him. He derives
his standing to challenge the statute from the direct injury he would
sustain if and when the law is enforced against him. Therefore, it is
clear that the proper forum to challenge the constitutionality of the
law was before the RTC handling the protection order proceedings.
The filing of a separate action to question the constitutionality of the
law amounts to splitting a cause of action that runs counter to the
policy against multiplicity of suits.
Moreover, the filing of the Petition for Prohibition with the Court
of Appeals countenanced the evil that the law and the rules sought to
avoid. It caused the delay in the proceedings and inconvenience,
hardship and expense on the part of the parties due to the
multiplicity of suits between them at different court levels. The RTC
where the petition for protection orders is filed should be trusted,
instead of being doubted, to be able to exercise its jurisdiction to
pass upon the issue of constitutionality within the mandatory period
set by the rules.
In gist, there is no statutory, reglementary, or practical basis to
disallow the constitutional challenge to a law, which is sought to be
enforced, in a summary proceeding. This is particularly true
considering that the issue of a statute’s constitutionality is a question
of law which may be resolved without the reception of evidence or a
full-blown trial. Hence, said issue should have been raised at the
earliest opportunity in
_______________
15 Lawyers Against Monopoly and Poverty (LAMP) v. The Secretary of Budget
and Management, G.R. No. 164987, April 24, 2012, 670 SCRA 373, 383-384.
444

Garcia vs. Drilon
the proceedings before the RTC, Bacolod City and for failure of the
petitioner to do so, it cannot be raised in the separate Petition for
Prohibition before the Court of Appeals, as correctly ruled by the
latter, nor in a separate action before the RTC.
On the Court Resolving the
Issue of Constitutionality of
Republic Act No. 9262
Notwithstanding my position that the Court of Appeals properly
dismissed the Petition for Prohibition because of petitioner’s failure
to raise the issue of constitutionality of Republic Act No. 9262 at the
earliest opportunity, I concur that the Court, in the exercise of its
sound discretion,16 should still pass upon the said issue in the
present Petition. Notable is the fact that not only the petitioner, but
the private respondent as well,17 pray that the Court resolve the
constitutional issue considering its novelty and paramount
importance. Indeed, when public interest requires the resolution of
the constitutional issue raised, and in keeping with this Court’s duty
of determining whether other agencies or even co-equal branches of
government have remained within the limits of the Constitution and
have not abused the discretion given them, the Court may brush
aside technicalities of procedure and resolve the constitutional
issue.18
Aside from the technical ground raised by petitioner in his first
assignment of error, petitioner questions the constitutionality of
Republic Act No. 9262 on the following grounds:
THE COURT OF APPEALS COMMITTED SERIOUS ERROR IN

FAILING TO CONCLUDE THAT R.A. NO. 9262 IS DIS-
_______________
16 People v. Vera, supra note 2.
17 Rollo, p. 237, Private Respondents’ Comment.
18 Matibag v. Benipayo, supra note 12 at p. 579; p. 66.
445
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 445

Garcia vs. Drilon
CRIMINATORY, UNJUST, AND VIOLATIVE OF THE EQUAL

PROTECTION CLAUSE.
THE COURT OF APPEALS COMMITTED GRAVE MISTAKE IN
NOT FINDING THAT R.A. NO. 9262 RUNS COUNTER TO THE
DUE PROCESS CLAUSE OF THE CONSTITUTION.
THE COURT OF APPEALS ERRED IN NOT FINDING THAT THE
LAW DOES VIOLENCE TO THE POLICY OF THE STATE TO
PROTECT THE FAMILY AS A BASIC SOCIAL INSTITUTION.
THE COURT OF APPEALS SERIOUSLY ERRED IN NOT
DECLARING R.A. NO. 9262 AS INVALID AND
UNCONSTITUTIONAL BECAUSE IT ALLOWS AN UNDUE
DELEGATION OF JUDICIAL POWER TO THE BARANGAY
OFFICIALS.19
On the Constitutional Right to Equal

Protection of the Laws
Petitioner challenges the constitutionality of Republic Act No.
9262 for making a gender-based classification, thus, providing
remedies only to wives/women and not to husbands/men. He claims
that even the title of the law, “An Act Defining Violence Against
Women and Their Children” is already pejorative and sex-
discriminatory because it means violence by men against women.20
The law also does not include violence committed by women against
children and other women. He adds that gender alone is not enough
basis to deprive the husband/father of the remedies under it because
its avowed purpose is to curb and punish spousal violence. The said
remedies are discriminatory against the husband/male gender. There
being no reasonable difference between an abused husband and an
abused wife, the equal protection guarantee is violated.
_______________
19 Rollo, p. 22.
20 Id., at p. 26.
446

Garcia vs. Drilon
Pertinently, Section 1, Article III of the 1987 Constitution states:
No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without

due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal
protection of the laws. (Emphasis supplied.)
The above provision was lifted verbatim from the 1935 and 1973
Constitutions, which in turn was a slightly modified version of the
equal protection clause in Section 1, Amendment 1421 of the United
States Constitution.
In 1937, the Court established in People v. Vera22 the four-fold
test to measure the reasonableness of a classification under the equal
protection clause, to wit:
This basic individual right sheltered by the Constitution is a

restraint on all the three grand departments of our government and on
the subordinate instrumentalities and subdivisions thereof, and on
many constitutional powers, like the police power, taxation and
eminent domain. The equal protection of the laws, sententiously
observes the Supreme Court of the United States, “is a pledge of the
protection of equal laws.” Of course, what may be regarded as a
denial of the equal protection of the laws is a question not always
easily determined. No rule that will cover every case can be
formulated. Class legislation discriminating against some and
favoring others is prohibited. But classification on a reasonable
basis,
_______________
21 All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction
thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall
make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the
United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due
process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the
laws.
22 Supra note 2 at pp. 125-126.
447
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 447

Garcia vs. Drilon
and not made arbitrarily or capriciously, is permitted. The

classification, however, to be reasonable must be based on
substantial distinctions which make real differences; it must be
germane to the purposes of the law; it must not be limited to
existing conditions only, and must apply equally to each member
of the class. (Citations omitted, emphasis supplied.)
In our jurisdiction, the standard and analysis of equal protection

challenges in the main have followed the foregoing “rational basis”
test, coupled with a deferential attitude to legislative classifications
and a reluctance to invalidate a law unless there is a showing of a
clear and unequivocal breach of the Constitution.23
However, over time, three levels of tests were developed, which
are to be applied in equal protection cases, depending on the subject
matter24 involved:
1. Rational Basis Scrutiny — the traditional test, which requires “only that
government must not impose differences in treatment except upon some
reasonable differentiation fairly related to the object of regulation.” Simply
put, it merely demands that the classification in the statute reasonably relates
to the legislative purpose.25
2. Intermediate Scrutiny — requires that the classification (means) must serve
an important governmental objective (ends) and is substantially related to
the achievement of such objective. A
_______________
23 Central Bank (now Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) Employees Association, Inc. v. Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas, 487 Phil. 531, 583-584; 446 SCRA 299, 370 (2004).
24 Ang Ladlad LGBT Party v. Commission on Elections, G.R. No. 190582, April 8, 2010, 618 SCRA 32,
citing BERNAS, THE 1987 CONSTITUTION OF THE PHILIPPINES: A COMMENTARY, pp. 139-140 (2009).
25 Central Bank (now Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) Employees Association, Inc. v. Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas, supra note 23.
448

Garcia vs. Drilon
classification based on sex is the best-established example of an intermediate
level of review.26
3. Strict Scrutiny — requires that the classification serve a compelling state
interest and is necessary to achieve such interest. This level is used when
suspect classifications or fundamental rights are involved.27
Recent Philippine jurisprudence has recognized the need to apply

different standards of scrutiny in testing the constitutionality of
classifications. In British American Tobacco v. Camacho,28 this
Court held that since the case therein neither involved a suspect
classification nor impinged on a fundamental right, then “the
rational basis test was properly applied to gauge the constitutionality
of the assailed law in the face of an equal protection challenge.”29
We added:
It has been held that “in the areas of social and economic policy, a
statutory classification that neither proceeds along suspect lines nor
infringes constitutional rights must be upheld against equal
protection challenge if there is any reasonably conceivable state of
facts that could provide a rational basis for the classification.” Under
the rational basis test, it is sufficient that the legislative classification
is rationally related to achieving some legitimate State interest.
x x x.30 (Citations omitted.)
Echoing the same principle, this Court, speaking through then

Chief Justice Puno in Central Bank (now Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas) Employees Association, Inc. v. Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas,31 stated:
_______________
26 Id.
27 Id.
28 G.R. No. 163583, April 15, 2009, 585 SCRA 36.
29 Id., at p. 40.
30 Id., at pp. 40-41.
31 Supra note 23 at pp. 597-600.
449
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 449

Garcia vs. Drilon
Congress retains its wide discretion in providing for a valid

classification, and its policies should be accorded recognition and
respect by the courts of justice except when they run afoul of the
Constitution. The deference stops where the classification violates
a fundamental right, or prejudices persons accorded special
protection by the Constitution. When these violations arise, this
Court must discharge its primary role as the vanguard of
constitutional guaranties, and require a stricter and more exacting
adherence to constitutional limitations. Rational basis should not
suffice.
xxxx
Under most circumstances, the Court will exercise judicial
restraint in deciding questions of constitutionality, recognizing the
broad discretion given to Congress in exercising its legislative power.
Judicial scrutiny would be based on the “rational basis” test, and the
legislative discretion would be given deferential treatment.
But if the challenge to the statute is premised on the denial of
a fundamental right, or the perpetuation of prejudice against
persons favored by the Constitution with special protection,
judicial scrutiny ought to be more strict. A weak and watered
down view would call for the abdication of this Court’s solemn duty
to strike down any law repugnant to the Constitution and the rights it
enshrines. This is true whether the actor committing the
unconstitutional act is a private person or the government itself or
one of its instrumentalities. Oppressive acts will be struck down
regardless of the character or nature of the actor. (Citations omitted.)
This was reiterated in League of Cities of the Philippines v.

Commission on Elections,32 and Ang Ladlad LGBT Party v.
Commission on Elections,33 wherein the Court, although ap-
_______________
32 G.R. Nos. 176951, 177499, and 178056, November 18, 2008, 571 SCRA 263.
33 Supra note 24.
450

Garcia vs. Drilon
plying the rational basis test, noted that there are tests, which are
more appropriate in other cases, especially those involving suspect
classes and fundamental rights. In fact, Chief Justice Puno
expounded on this in his Separate Concurring Opinion in the Ang
Ladlad case. He said that although the assailed resolutions therein
were correctly struck down, since the classification was based on
gender or sexual orientation, a quasi-suspect classification, a
heightened level of review should have been applied and not just
the rational basis test, which is the most liberal basis of judicial
scrutiny. Citing American authority, Chief Justice Puno continued
to elucidate on the three levels of scrutiny and the classes falling
within each level, to wit:
If a legislative classification disadvantages a “suspect class” or

impinges upon the exercise of a “fundamental right,” then the courts
will employ strict scrutiny and the statute must fall unless the
government can demonstrate that the classification has been precisely
tailored to serve a compelling governmental interest. Over the years,
the United States Supreme Court has determined that suspect classes
for equal protection purposes include classifications based on race,
religion, alienage, national origin, and ancestry. The underlying
rationale of this theory is that where legislation affects discrete and
insular minorities, the presumption of constitutionality fades because
traditional political processes may have broken down. In such a case,
the State bears a heavy burden of justification, and the government
action will be closely scrutinized in light of its asserted purpose.
On the other hand, if the classification, while not facially
invidious, nonetheless gives rise to recurring constitutional
difficulties, or if a classification disadvantages a “quasi-suspect
class,” it will be treated under intermediate or heightened review.
To survive intermediate scrutiny, the law must not only further an
important governmental interest and be substantially related to that
interest, but the justification for the classification must be genuine
and must not de-
451
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 451

Garcia vs. Drilon
pend on broad generalizations. Noteworthy, and of special interest to

us in this case, quasi-suspect classes include classifications based
on gender or illegitimacy.
If neither strict nor intermediate scrutiny is appropriate, then the
statute will be tested for mere rationality. This is a relatively
relaxed standard reflecting the Court’s awareness that the drawing
of lines which creates distinctions is peculiarly a legislative task and
an unavoidable one. The presumption is in favor of the classification,
of the reasonableness and fairness of state action, and of legitimate
grounds of distinction, if any such grounds exist, on which the State
acted.34 (Citations omitted, emphases supplied.)
This case presents us with the most opportune time to adopt the
appropriate scrutiny in deciding cases where the issue of
discrimination based on sex or gender is raised. The assailed Section
3, among other provisions, of Republic Act No. 9262 provides:
SEC. 3. Definition of Terms.—As used in this Act:

(a) “Violence against women and their children” refers to any
act or a series of acts committed by any person against a woman who
is his wife, former wife, or against a woman 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 result 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. x x x.
(Emphases supplied.)
The aforesaid law also institutionalized remedies such as the

issuance of protection orders in favor of women and chil-
_______________
34 Id., at pp. 93-95.
452

Garcia vs. Drilon
dren who are victims of violence and prescribed public penalties for
violation of the said law.
Petitioner questions the constitutionality of Republic Act No.
9262 which denies the same protection orders to husbands who are
victims of wife-abuse. It should be stressed that under aforecited
section of said law violence may not only be physical or sexual but
also psychological and economic in nature.
The Honorable Justice Marvic Mario Victor F. Leonen in his
concurring opinion notes that “Husband abuse maybe an under
reported form of family violence.” While concurring with the
majority opinion, he opines as follows:
Nevertheless, in a future case more deserving of our attention, we

should be open to realities which may challenge the dominant
conception that violence in intimate relationships only happens to
women and children. This may be predominantly true, but even those
in marginal cases deserve fundamental constitutional and statutory
protection. We should be careful that in correcting historical and
cultural injustices, we may typecast all women as victims, stereotype
all men as tormentors or make invisible the possibility that in some
intimate relationships, men may also want to seek succor against acts
defined in Section 5 of Republic Act No. 9262 in an expeditious
manner.
Since statutory remedies accorded to women are not made

available to men, when the reality is that there are men, regardless of
their number, who are also suffering from domestic violence, the
rational basis test may be too wide and liberal to justify the statutory
classification which in effect allows different treatment of men who
are similarly situated. In the context of the constitutional policy to
“ensure the fundamental equality before the law of women and
men”35 the level of scrutiny applicable, to test whether or not the
classifi-
_______________
35 1987 Constitution, Article II, Section 14.
453
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 453

Garcia vs. Drilon
cation in Republic Act No. 9262 violates the equal protection clause,
is the middle-tier scrutiny or the intermediate standard of
judicial review.
To survive intermediate review, the classification in the
challenged law must (1) serve important governmental objectives,
and (2) be substantially related to the achievement of those
objectives.36
Important and Essential
Governmental Objectives: Safeguard
Human Rights, Ensure Gender
Equality and Empower Women
Republic Act No. 9262 is a legislation that furthers important, in
fact essential, governmental objectives as enunciated in the law’s
Declaration of Policy, as quoted below:
SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy.—It is hereby declared that the
State values the dignity of women and children and guarantees full
respect for human rights. The State also recognizes the need to
protect the family and its members particularly women and children,
from violence and threats to their personal safety and security.
Towards this end, the State shall exert efforts to address violence
committed against women and children in keeping with the
fundamental freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution and the
Provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the
Convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination Against
Women, Convention on the Rights of the Child and other
international human rights instruments of which the Philippines is a
party.
_______________
36 Central Bank (now Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) Employees Association, Inc. v.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, supra note 23 at 586; p. 373, citing Justice Marshall’s
dissent in San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1 (1973).
454

Garcia vs. Drilon
This policy is in consonance with the constitutional provisions,37

which state:
SEC. 11. The State values the dignity of every human person

and guarantees full respect for human rights.
SEC. 12. The State recognizes the sanctity of family life and
shall protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous social
institution. x x x.
By constitutional mandate, the Philippines is committed to ensure

that human rights and fundamental freedoms are fully enjoyed by
everyone. It was one of the countries that voted in favor of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which was a mere
two years after it gained independence from the United States of
America. In addition, the Philippines is a signatory to many United
Nations human rights treaties such as the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention Against
Torture, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, among
others.
As a signatory to the UDHR, the Philippines pledged itself to
achieve the promotion of universal respect for and observance of
human rights and fundamental freedoms,38 keeping in mind the
standards under the Declaration. Among the standards under the
UDHR are the following:
Article 1. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity

and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should
act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
xxxx
_______________
37 1987 Constitution, Article II.
38 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
455
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 455

Garcia vs. Drilon
Article 7. All are equal before the law and are entitled

without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are
entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of
this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.
Article 8. Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the
competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental
rights granted him by the constitution or by law. (Emphasis ours.)
The Declaration of Policy in Republic Act No. 9262 enunciates
the purpose of the said law, which is to fulfill the government’s
obligation to safeguard the dignity and human rights of women and
children by providing effective remedies against domestic violence
or physical, psychological, and other forms of abuse perpetuated by
the husband, partner, or father of the victim. The said law is also
viewed within the context of the constitutional mandate to ensure
gender equality, which is quoted as follows:
Section 14. The State recognizes the role of women in nation-

building, and shall ensure the fundamental equality before the law of
women and men.39
It has been acknowledged that “gender-based violence is a form

of discrimination that seriously inhibits women’s ability to enjoy
rights and freedoms on a basis of equality with men.”40 Republic
Act No. 9262 can be viewed therefore as the Philippines’
compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which is committed to
condemn discrimination against women and directs its members to
undertake, without delay, all appropriate means to eliminate
discrimination against women in all forms both in law and in
practice.41 Known as
_______________
39 1987 Constitution, Article II.
40 General Recommendation No. 19, CEDAW/par. 1 (1992).
41 CEDAW, Article 2.
456

Garcia vs. Drilon
the International Bill of Rights of Women,42 the CEDAW is the

central and most comprehensive document for the advancement of
the welfare of women.43 It brings the women into the focus of
human rights concerns, and its spirit is rooted in the goals of the UN:
to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and
worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women.44
The CEDAW, in its preamble, explicitly acknowledges the existence
of extensive discrimination against women, and emphasized that
such is a violation of the principles of equality of rights and
respect for human dignity.
In addition, as a state party to the CEDAW, the Philippines is
under legal obligation to to ensure their development and
advancement for the improvement of their position from one of de
jure as well as de facto equality with men.45 The CEDAW, going
beyond the concept of discrimination used in many legal standards
and norms, focuses on discrimination against women, with the
emphasis that women have suffered and are continuing to suffer
from various forms of discrimination on account of their biological
sex.46
The Philippines’ accession to various international instruments
requires it to promote and ensure the observance of human rights
and “continually affirm its commitment to ensure that it pursues
gender equality in all aspects of the development process to
eventually make real, a genderresponsive society.”47 Thus, the
governmental objectives of protecting human rights and
fundamental freedoms, which includes promoting gender
equality and empowering
_______________
42 http://pcw.gov.ph/international-commitments/cedaw last visited on April 9,
2013.
43 CEDAW, Introduction.
44 Id.
45 General Recommendation No. 25, CEDAW/par. 4 (2004).
46 Id., par. 5 (2004).
47 http://pcw.gov.ph/international-commitments last visited on April 9, 2013.
457
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 457
Garcia vs. Drilon
women, as mandated not only by our Constitution, but also by

commitments we have made in the international sphere, are
undeniably important and essential.
The Gender-Based Classification
in Republic Act No. 9262 is Sub-
stantially Related to the Achieve-
ment of Governmental Objectives
As one of the country’s pervasive social problems, violence
against women is deemed to be closely linked with the unequal
power relationship between women and men and is otherwise
known as “gender-based violence.”48 Violent acts towards women
has been the subject of an examination on a historic world-wide
perspective.49 The exhaustive study of a foreign history professor
noted that “[f]rom the earliest civilizations on, the subjugation of
women, in the form of violence, were facts of life,”50 as three great
bodies of thought, namely: Judeo-Christian religious ideas; Greek
philosophy; and the Common Law Legal Code, which have
influenced western society’s views and treatment of women, all
“assumed patriarchy as natural; that is, male domination stemming
from the view of male superiority.”51 It cited 18th century legal
expert William Blackstone, who explained that the common law
doctrine of coverture reflected the theological assumption that
husband and wife were ‘one body’ before God; thus “they were ‘one
person’ under the law, and that one person was the husband,”52 a
concept that evidently found its way in some of our
_______________
48 http://pcw.gov.ph/focus-areas/violence-against-women last visited on April 10,
2013.
49 Historical Perspectives on Violence Against Women. November 2002.
50 Vivian C. Fox, Ph.D. Journal of International Women’s Studies Vol. 4 #1,
Historical Perspectives on Violence Against Women. November 2002, p. 20.
51 Id., at p. 15.
52 Id., at p. 19.
458

Garcia vs. Drilon
Civil Code provisions prior to the enactment of the Family Code.

Society and tradition dictate that the culture of patriarchy
continue. Men are expected to take on the dominant roles both in the
community and in the family. This perception naturally leads to men
gaining more power over women —power, which must necessarily
be controlled and maintained. Violence against women is one of the
ways men control women to retain such power.53
The enactment of Republic Act No. 9262 was in response to the
undeniable numerous cases involving violence committed against
women in the Philippines. In 2012, the Philippine National Police
(PNP) reported54 that 65% or 11,531 out of 15,969 cases involving
violence against women were filed under Republic Act No. 9262.
From 2004 to 2012, violations of Republic Act No. 9262 ranked first
among the different categories of violence committed against
women. The number of reported cases showed an increasing trend
from 2004 to 2012, although the numbers might not exactly
represent the real incidence of violence against women in the
country, as the data is based only on what was reported to the PNP.
Moreover, the increasing trend may have been caused by the
continuous information campaign on the law and its strict
implementation.55 Nonetheless, statistics show that cases involving
violence against women are prevalent, while there is a dearth of
reported cases involving violence committed by women against
men, that will require legislature intervention or solicitous treatment
of men.
Preventing violence against women and children through their
availment of special legal remedies, serves the govern-
_______________
53 http://pcw.gov.ph/focus-areas/violence-against-women last visited on April 10,
2013.
54 As Submitted by the Philippine Commission on Women.
55 http://pcw.gov.ph/statistics/201210/statistics-violence-against-filipino-women,
last visited on March 18, 2013.
459
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 459

Garcia vs. Drilon
mental objectives of protecting the dignity and human rights of

every person, preserving the sanctity of family life, and promoting
gender equality and empowering women. Although there exists
other laws on violence against women56 in the Philippines, Republic
Act No. 9262 deals with the problem of violence within the family
and intimate relationships, which deserves special attention because
it occurs in situations or places where women and children should
feel most safe and secure but are actually not. The law provides the
widest range of reliefs for women and children who are victims of
violence, which are often reported to have been committed not by
strangers, but by a father or a husband or a person with whom the
victim has or had a sexual or dating relationship. Aside from filing a
criminal case in court, the law provides potent legal remedies to the
victims that theretofore were not available. The law recognizes, with
valid factual support based on statistics that women and children are
the most vulnerable victims of violence, and therefore need legal
intervention. On the other hand, there is a dearth of empirical basis
to anchor a conclusion that men need legal protection from violence
perpetuated by women.
The law takes into account the pervasive vulnerability of women
and children, and the seriousness and urgency of the situation,
which, in the language of the law result 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.57 Hence, the law
permits the issuance of protec-
_______________
56 Republic Act No. 3815, The Revised Penal Code; Republic Act No. 7877, The
Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995; Republic Act No. 8353, The Anti-Rape Law of
1997; Republic Act No. 8505, The Rape Victims Assistance Act of 1998; Republic
Act No. 6955; Republic Act No. 9208, The Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003;
Republic Act No. 8369, The Family Courts Act of 1997; and Republic Act No. 9710,
The Magna Carta of Women of 2009.
57 Republic Act No. 9262, Section 3.
460

Garcia vs. Drilon
tion orders and the granting of certain reliefs to women victims,

even without a hearing. The law has granted authority for barangay
officials to issue a protection order against the offender, based on the
victim’s application. The RTC may likewise grant an application for
a temporary protection order (TPO) and provide other reliefs, also
on the mere basis of the application. Despite the ex parte issuance of
these protection orders, the temporary nature of these remedies
allow them to be availed of by the victim without violating the
offender’s right to due process as it is only when a full-blown
hearing has been done that a permanent protection order may be
issued. Thus, these remedies are suitable, reasonable, and justified.
More importantly, they serve the objectives of the law by providing
the victims necessary immediate protection from the violence they
perceive as threats to their personal safety and security. This
translates to the fulfillment of other governmental objectives as well.
By assuring the victims instant relief from their situation, they are
consequently empowered and restored to a place of dignity and
equality. Such is embodied in the purpose to be served by a
protection order, to wit:
SEC. 8. Protection Orders.—A protection order is an order

issued under this act for the purpose of preventing further acts of
violence against a woman or her child specified in Section 5 of this
Act and granting other necessary relief. The relief granted under a
protection order serve the purpose of safeguarding the victim
from further harm, minimizing any disruption in the victim’s
daily life, and facilitating the opportunity and ability of the
victim to independently regain control over her life. x x x.
(Emphasis supplied.)
In furtherance of the governmental objectives, especially that of

protecting human rights, violence against women and children under
this Act has been classified as a public of-
461
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 461

Garcia vs. Drilon
fense,58 making its prosecution independent of the victim’s initial

participation.
Verily, the classification made in Republic Act No. 9262 is
substantially related to the important governmental objectives of
valuing every person’s dignity, respecting human rights,
safeguarding family life, protecting children, promoting gender
equality, and empowering women.
The persistent and existing biological, social, and cultural
differences between women and men prescribe that they be treated
differently under particular conditions in order to achieve
substantive equality for women. Thus, the disadvantaged position
of a woman as compared to a man requires the special protection of
the law, as gleaned from the following recommendations of the
CEDAW Committee:
8. [T]he Convention requires that women be given an equal start

and that they be empowered by an enabling environment to achieve
equality of results. It is not enough to guarantee women treatment
that is identical to that of men. Rather, biological as well as socially
and culturally constructed differences between women and men
must be taken into account. Under certain circumstances, non-
identical treatment of women and men will be required in order
to address such differences. Pursuit of the goal of substantive
equality also calls for an effective strategy aimed at overcoming
underrepresentation of women and a redistribution of resources and
power between men and women.
9. Equality of results is the logical corollary of de facto or
substantive equality. These results may be quantitative and/or
qualitative in nature; that is, women enjoying their rights in various
fields in fairly equal numbers with men, enjoying the same income
levels, equality in decision-making and political influence,
_______________
58 Id., Section 25.
462

Garcia vs. Drilon
and women enjoying freedom from violence.59 (Emphases

supplied.)
The government’s commitment to ensure that the status of a

woman in all spheres of her life are parallel to that of a man,
requires the adoption and implementation of ameliorative measures,
such as Republic Act No. 9262. Unless the woman is guaranteed
that the violence that she endures in her private affairs will not be
ignored by the government, which is committed to uplift her to her
rightful place as a human being, then she can neither achieve
substantive equality nor be empowered.
The equal protection clause in our Constitution does not
guarantee an absolute prohibition against classification. The non-
identical treatment of women and men under Republic Act No. 9262
is justified to put them on equal footing and to give substance to the
policy and aim of the state to ensure the equality of women and men
in light of the biological, historical, social, and culturally endowed
differences between men and women.
Republic Act No. 9262, by affording special and exclusive
protection to women and children, who are vulnerable victims of
domestic violence, undoubtedly serves the important governmental
objectives of protecting human rights, insuring gender equality, and
empowering women. The gender-based classification and the special
remedies prescribed by said law in favor of women and children are
substantially related, in fact essentially necessary, to achieve such
objectives. Hence, said Act survives the intermediate review or
middle-tier judicial scrutiny. The gender-based classification
therein is therefore not violative of the equal protection clause
embodied in the 1987 Constitution.
_______________
59 General Recommendation No. 25, CEDAW/pars. 8-9 (2004).
463
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 463

Garcia vs. Drilon
The Issuance of the TPO did not

Violate Petitioner’s Right to Due
Process
A protection order is issued under Republic Act No. 9262 for the
purpose of preventing further acts of violence against a woman or
her child.60 The circumstances surrounding the availment thereof are
often attended by urgency; thus, women and child victims must have
immediate and uncomplicated access to the same. Hence, Republic
Act No. 9262 provides for the issuance of a TPO:
SEC. 15. Temporary Protection Orders.—Temporary

Protection Orders (TPOs) refers to the protection order issued by the
court on the date of filing of the application after ex parte
determination that such order should be issued. A court may grant in
a TPO any, some or all of the reliefs mentioned in this Act and shall
be effective for thirty (30) days. The court shall schedule a hearing
on the issuance of a PPO prior to or on the date of the expiration of
the TPO. The court shall order the immediate personal service of the
TPO on the respondent by the court sheriff who may obtain the
assistance of law enforcement agents for the service. The TPO shall
include notice of the date of the hearing on the merits of the issuance
of a PPO.
The ex parte issuance of the TPO does not make it

unconstitutional. Procedural due process refers to the method or
manner by which the law is enforced. It consists of the two basic
rights of notice and hearing, as well as the guarantee of being heard
by an impartial and competent tribunal.61 However, it is a
constitutional commonplace that the ordinary requirements of
procedural due process yield to the necessi-
_______________
60 Section 8.
61 China Banking Corporation v. Lozada, G.R. No. 164919, July 4, 2008, 557
SCRA 177, 193.
464

Garcia vs. Drilon
ties of protecting vital public interests like those involved herein.

Republic Act No. 9262 and its implementing regulations were
enacted and promulgated in the exercise of that pervasive, sovereign
power of the State to protect the safety, health, and general welfare
and comfort of the public (in this case, a particular sector thereof), as
well as the protection of human life, commonly designated as the
police power.62
In Secretary of Justice v. Lantion,63 the Court enumerated three
instances when notice and/or hearing may be dispensed with in
administrative proceedings:
These twin rights may, however, be considered dispensable in certain

instances, such as:
1. In proceedings where there is an urgent need for immediate action,
like the summary abatement of a nuisance per se (Article 704, Civil
Code), the preventive suspension of a public servant facing
administrative charges (Section 63, Local Government Code, B.P.
Blg. 337), the padlocking of filthy restaurants or theaters showing
obscene movies or like establishments which are immediate threats
to public health and decency, and the cancellation of a passport of a
person sought for criminal prosecution;
2. Where there is tentativeness of administrative action, that is, where
the respondent is not precluded from enjoying the right to notice and
hearing at a later time without prejudice to the person affected, such
as the summary distraint and levy of the property of a delinquent
taxpayer, and the replacement of a temporary appointee; and
3. Where the twin rights have previously been offered but the right to
exercise them had not been claimed.
_______________
62 Pollution Adjudication Board v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 93891, March 11,
1991, 195 SCRA 112, 123.
63 379 Phil. 165, 203-204; 322 SCRA 160, 187-188 (2000).
465
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 465

Garcia vs. Drilon
The principles behind the aforementioned exceptions may also

apply in the case of the ex parte issuance of the TPO, although it is a
judicial proceeding. As mentioned previously, the urgent need for a
TPO is inherent in its nature and purpose, which is to immediately
provide protection to the woman and/or child victim/s against
further violent acts. Any delay in the issuance of a protective order
may possibly result in loss of life and limb of the victim. The issuing
judge does not arbitrarily issue the TPO as he can only do so if there
is reasonable ground to believe that an imminent danger of violence
against women and their children exists or is about to recur based on
the verified allegations in the petition of the victim/s.64 Since the
TPO is effective for only thirty (30) days,65 any inconvenience,
deprivation, or prejudice the person enjoined — such as the
petitioner herein — may suffer, is generally limited and temporary.
Petitioner is also not completely precluded from enjoying the right
to notice and hearing at a later time. Following the issuance of the
TPO, the law and rules require that petitioner be personally served
with notice of the preliminary conference and hearing on private
respondent’s petition for a Permanent Protection Order (PPO)66 and
that petitioner submit his opposition to private respondent’s petition
for protections orders.67 In fact, it was petitioner’s choice not to file
an opposition, averring that it would only be an “exercise in futility.”
Thus, the twin rights of notice and hearing were subsequently
afforded to petitioner but he chose not to take advantage of them.
Petitioner cannot now claim that the ex parte issuance of the TPO
was in violation of his right to due process.
_______________
64 A.M. No. 04-10-11-SC, Section 15(a).
65 Id.
66 Id., Section 15(b).
67 Id., Section 15(c).
466
Garcia vs. Drilon
There is No Undue Delegation of

Judicial Power to Barangay Officials
A Barangay Protection Order (BPO) refers to the protection
order issued by the Punong Barangay, or in his absence the
Barangay Kagawad, ordering the perpetrator to desist from
committing acts of violence against the family or household
members particularly women and their children.68 The authority of
barangay officials to issue a BPO is conferred under Section 14 of
Republic Act No. 9262:
SEC. 14. Barangay Protection Orders (BPOs); Who May Issue

and How.—Barangay Protection Orders (BPOs) refer to the
protection order issued by the Punong Barangay ordering the
perpetrator to desist from committing acts under Section 5 (a) and (b)
of this Act. A Punong Barangay who receives applications for a BPO
shall issue the protection order to the applicant on the date of filing
after ex parte determination of the basis of the application. If the
Punong Barangay is unavailable to act on the application for a BPO,
the application shall be acted upon by any available Barangay
Kagawad. If the BPO is issued by a Barangay Kagawad the order
must be accompanied by an attestation by the Barangay Kagawad
that the Punong Barangay was unavailable at the time for the
issuance of the BPO. BPOs shall be effective for fifteen (15) days.
Immediately after the issuance of an ex parte BPO, the Punong
Barangay or Barangay Kagawad shall personally serve a copy of the
same on the respondent, or direct any barangay official to effect is
personal service.
The parties may be accompanied by a non-lawyer advocate in any
proceeding before the Punong Barangay.
Once more, the urgency of the purpose for which protection

orders under Republic Act No. 9262 are issued justifies the grant of
authority to barangay officials to issue BPOs. Baran-
_______________
68 Id., Section 4(p).
467
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 467

Garcia vs. Drilon
gay officials live and interact closely with their constituents and are
presumably easier to approach and more readily available than any
other government official. Their issuance of the BPO is but part of
their official executive function of enforcing all laws and ordinances
within their barangay69 and maintaining public order in the
barangay.70 It is true that the barangay officials’ issuance of a BPO
under Republic Act No. 9262 necessarily involves the determination
of some questions of fact, but this function, whether judicial or
quasi-judicial, are merely incidental to the exercise of the power
granted by law.71 The Court has clarified that:
“The mere fact that an officer is required by law to inquire the

existence of certain facts and to apply the law thereto in order to
determine what his official conduct shall be and the fact that these
acts may affect private rights do not constitute an exercise of judicial
powers. Accordingly, a statute may give to non-judicial officers the
power to declare the existence of facts which call into operation its
provisions, and similarly may grant to commissioners and other
subordinate officers power to ascertain and determine appropriate
facts as a basis for procedure in the enforcement of particular laws.”
(11 Am. Jur., Const. Law, p. 950, sec. 235)72
Furthermore, while judicial power rests exclusively in the

judiciary, it may be conceded that the legislature may confer on
administrative boards or bodies, or even particular government
officials, quasi-judicial power involving the exercise of judgment
and discretion, as incident to the performance of
_______________
69 Section 389(b)(1), Chapter III, Title I, Book III of Republic Act No. 7160,
otherwise known as The Local Government Code of 1991.
70 Section 389(b)(3), Chapter III, Title I, Book III of The Local Government Code
of 1991.
71 Lovina v. Moreno, 118 Phil. 1401, 1405; 9 SCRA 557, 561 (1963).
72 Id., at p. 1406; pp. 561-562.
468

Garcia vs. Drilon
administrative functions. But in so doing, the legislature must state

its intention in express terms that would leave no doubt, as even
such quasi-judicial prerogatives must be limited, if they are to be
valid, only to those incidental to or in connection with the
performance of administrative duties, which do not amount to
conferment of jurisdiction over a matter exclusively vested in the
courts.73 In the case of a BPO, it is a mere provisional remedy under
Republic Act No. 9262, meant to address the pressing need of the
victims for instant protection. However, it does not take the place of
appropriate judicial proceedings and remedies that provide a more
effective and comprehensive protection to the victim. In fact, under
the Implementing Rules of Republic Act No. 9262, the issuance of a
BPO or the pendency of an application for a BPO shall not preclude
the victim from applying for, or the court from granting, a TPO or
PPO. Where a TPO has already been granted by any court, the
barangay official may no longer issue a BPO.74 The same
Implementing Rules also require that within twenty-four (24) hours
after the issuance of a BPO, the barangay official shall assist the
victim in filing an application for a TPO or PPO with the nearest
court in the victim’s place of residence. If there is no Family Court
or RTC, the application may be filed in the Municipal Trial Court,
the Municipal Circuit Trial Court or the Metropolitan Trial Court.75
All things considered, there is no ground to declare Republic Act
No. 9262 constitutionally infirm.
_______________
73 Miller v. Mardo, 112 Phil. 792, 802; 2 SCRA 898, 907 (1961).
74 Section 14(g).
75 Section 14(d).
469
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 469

Garcia vs. Drilon
CONCURRING OPINION
BRION, J.:
I concur with the ponencia’s conclusion that Republic Act (R.A.)
No. 9262 (An Act Defining Violence Against Women and Their
Children, Providing for Protective Measures for Victims, Prescribing
Penalties Therefore and for Other Purposes) is constitutional and
does not violate the equal protection clause. As traditionally
viewed, the constitutional provision of equal protection simply
requires that similarly situated persons be treated in the same way. It
does not connote identity of rights among individuals, nor does it
require that every person is treated identically in all circumstances.
It acts as a safeguard to ensure that State-drawn distinctions among
persons are based on reasonable classifications and made pursuant to
a proper governmental purpose. In short, statutory classifications are
not unconstitutional when shown to be reasonable and made
pursuant to a legitimate government objective.
In my view, Congress has presented a reasonable classification
that focuses on women and children based on protective provisions
that the Constitution itself provides. Section 11, Article II of the
Constitution declares it a state policy to value the dignity of every
human person and guarantees full respect for human rights. Further,
under Section 14, Article II of the Constitution, the State recognizes
the role of women in nation-building and ensures fundamental
equality before the law of women and men. These policies are given
purposeful meaning under Article XV of the Constitution on family,
which states:
Section 1. The State recognizes the Filipino family as the

foundation of the nation. Accordingly, it shall strengthen its solidarity
and actively promote its total development.
470

Garcia vs. Drilon
Section 2. Marriage, as an inviolable social institution, is the

foundation of the family and shall be protected by the State.
Section 3. The State shall defend:
(1) The right of spouses to found a family in accordance with
their religious convictions and the demands of responsible
parenthood;
(2) The right of children to assistance, including proper care and
nutrition, and special protection from all forms of neglect, abuse,
cruelty, exploitation and other conditions prejudicial to their
development[.]
From the terms of the law, I find it plain that Congress enacted
R.A. No. 9262 as a measure intended to strengthen the family.
Congress found that domestic and other forms of violence against
women and children contribute to the failure to unify and strengthen
family ties, thereby impeding the State’s mandate to actively
promote the family’s total development. Congress also found, as a
reality, that women and children are more susceptible to domestic
and other forms of violence due to, among others, the pervasive bias
and prejudice against women and the stereotyping of roles within the
family environment that traditionally exist in Philippine society. On
this basis, Congress found it necessary to recognize the substantial
distinction within the family between men, on the one hand, and
women and children, on the other hand. This recognition,
incidentally, is not the first to be made in the laws as our law on
persons and family under the Civil Code also recognize, in various
ways, the distinctions between men and women in the context of
the family.1
_______________
1 Examples of this distinction are found in the following provisions of the Family
Code, as amended:
On the Ownership, Administrative, Enjoyment and Disposition of the Community
Property:
471
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 471

Garcia vs. Drilon
To be sure, Congress has not been alone in addressing violence

committed against women and children as this move is
_______________
“Art. 96. The administration and enjoyment of the community property shall
belong to both spouses jointly. In case of disagreement, the husband’s decision shall
prevail, subject to recourse to the court by the wife for proper remedy, which must be
availed of within five years from the date of the contract implementing such
decision.”
On the Liquidation of the Absolute Community Assets and Liabilities:
“Art. 102. Upon dissolution of the absolute community regime, the following
procedure shall apply:
xxxx
(6) Unless otherwise agreed upon by the parties, in the partition of the
properties, the conjugal dwelling and the lot on which it is situated shall be
adjudicated to the spouse with whom the majority of the common children choose to
remain. Children below the age of seven years are deemed to have chosen the
mother, unless the court has decided otherwise. In case there in no such majority, the
court shall decide, taking into consideration the best interests of said children.”
(emphases ours)
On the Administration of the Conjugal Partnership Property:
“Art. 124. The administration and enjoyment of the conjugal partnership shall
belong to both spouses jointly. In case of disagreement, the husband’s decision shall
prevail, subject to recourse to the court by the wife for proper remedy, which must be
availed of within five years from the date of the contract implementing such
decision.” (emphasis ours)
On the Liquidation of the Conjugal Partnership Assets and Liabilities:
“Art. 129. Upon the dissolution of the conjugal partnership regime, the
following procedure shall apply:
xxxx
(9) In the partition of the properties, the conjugal dwelling and the lot on
which it is situated shall, unless otherwise agreed upon by the parties, be
adjudicated to the spouse with whom the majority of the common children
choose to remain. Children below the age of seven years are deemed to
have chosen the mother, unless the court has decided otherwise. In case
there is no such majority, the court shall decide, taking into consideration the
best interests of said children.” (emphases ours)
472

Garcia vs. Drilon
“in keeping with the fundamental freedoms guaranteed under the

Constitution and the Provisions of the Universal Declara-
_______________
On Parental Authority:
“Art. 209. Pursuant to the natural right and duty of parents over the person and
property of their unemancipated children, parental authority and responsibility shall
include the caring for and rearing them for civic consciousness and efficiency and the
development of their moral, mental and physical character and well-being.
xxxx
Art. 211. The father and the mother shall jointly exercise parental authority
over the persons of their common children. In case of disagreement, the father’s
decision shall prevail, unless there is a judicial order to the contrary.” (emphasis
ours)
On the Effect of Parental Authority Upon the Persons of the Children:
“Art. 220 The parents and those exercising parental authority shall have
with the respect to their unemancipated children on wards the following rights
and duties:
(1) To keep them in their company, to support, educate and instruct them by
right precept and good example, and to provide for their upbringing in
keeping with their means;
(2) To give them love and affection, advice and counsel, companionship and
understanding;
(3) To provide them with moral and spiritual guidance, inculcate in them
honesty, integrity, selfdiscipline, self-reliance, industry and thrift, stimulate
their interest in civic affairs, and inspire in them compliance with the duties of
citizenship;
(4) To furnish them with good and wholesome educational materials,
supervise their activities, recreation and association with others, protect them
from bad company, and prevent them from acquiring habits detrimental to
their health, studies and morals;
(5) To represent them in all matters affecting their interests;
(6) To demand from them respect and obedience;
(7) To impose discipline on them as may be required under the
circumstances; and
(8) To perform such other duties as are imposed by law upon parents and
guardians.
On the Effect of Parental Authority Upon the Property of the Children:
473
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 473

Garcia vs. Drilon
tion of Human Rights, the convention on the Elimination of all

forms of discrimination Against Women, Convention on the Rights
of the Child and other international human rights instruments of
which the Philippines is a party.”2 The only question perhaps is
whether the considerations made in these international instruments
have reason or basis for recognition and active application in the
Philippines.
I believe that the policy consideration Congress made in this
regard is not without basis in history and in contemporary Philippine
society so that Congress was acting well within its prerogative when
it enacted R.A. No. 9262 “to protect the family and its members
particularly women and children, from violence and threats to their
personal safety and security.”3
I consider, too, the statutory classification under R.A. No. 9262
to be valid, and that the lowest level of scrutiny of review should be
applied in determining if the law has established a valid
classification germane to the Constitution’s objective to protect the
family by protecting its women and children members. In my view,
no need exists to further test the law’s validity from the perspective
of an expanded equal protection based on social justice. The
Constitution itself has made special mention of women and their role
in society (Article II) and the assistance and protection that must be
given to children irrespective of sex. It appears highly inconsistent
to me under this situation if the Court would impose a strict level of
scrutiny on government — the primary implementor of
constitutional policies — and lay on it the burden of
_______________
Art. 225. The father and the mother shall jointly exercise legal guardianship
over the property of the unemancipated common child without the necessity of a court
appointment. In case of disagreement, the father’s decision shall prevail, unless
there is a judicial order to the contrary.”
2 R.A. No. 9262, Section 2.
3 Ibid.; italics ours.
474

Garcia vs. Drilon
establishing the validity of an Act directly addressing violence

against women and children.
My serious reservation on the use of an expanded equal
protection clause and in applying a strict scrutiny standard is, among
others, based on lack of necessity; we do not need these measures
when we can fully examine R.A. No. 9262’s constitutionality using
the reasonableness test. The family is a unit, in fact a very basic one,
and it cannot operate on an uneven standard where measures beyond
what is necessary are extended to women and children as against the
man — the head of the family and the family provider. The use of an
expanded equal protection clause only stresses the concept of an
uneven equality that cannot long stand in a unit living at close
quarters in a situation of mutual dependency on one another. The
reasonableness test, on the other hand, has been consistently applied
to allow the courts to uphold State action as long as the action is
found to be germane to the purpose of the law, in this case to support
the unity and development of the family. If we are to deviate from
or to modify this established standard of scrutiny, we must do so
carefully and for strong justifiable reasons.
If we are to use a strict level of scrutiny of government action, we
must be aware of the risks that this system of review may open. A
very real risk is to open the possibility that our social legislations
will always be subject to heightened scrutiny. Are we sure of what
this approach entails for the government and for our society in the
long run? How will this approach affect the social legislation that
our society, particularly the most vulnerable members, need? What
other effects will a system of review — that regards governmental
action as illegal unless the government can actively justify the
classifications it has made in the course of pursuing its actions —
have? These are the questions that, in the long run, we have to
contend with, and I hate to provide an answer through a case that
is not, on its face and even
475
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 475
Garcia vs. Drilon
in deeper reality, representative of the questions we are asking or

need to ask.
The cases of Central Bank Employees Assoc., Inc. v. Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas4 and Serrano v. Gallant Maritime Services, Inc.5
demonstrate the Court’s application of a heightened sense of
scrutiny on social legislations. In Central Bank and Serrano, we held
that classifications in the law that result in prejudice to persons
accorded special protection by the Constitution require a stricter
judicial scrutiny.6 In both cases, the question may well be asked: was
there an absolute necessity for a strict scrutiny approach when, as in
Serrano, the same result emerges when using the lowest level of
scrutiny? In short, I ask if a strict scrutiny is needed under the
circumstances of the present case as the Concurring Opinion of J.
Roberto Abad suggests.
Not to be forgotten or glossed over in answering this question is
the need to consider what a strict scrutiny requires, as well as the
consequences of an expanded concept of equal protection clause and
the accompanying use of a strict scrutiny standard. Among others,
this approach affects the application of constitutional principles that
we vigilantly adhere to in this jurisdiction.
I outline below what a strict scrutiny approach entails.
First, the use of strict scrutiny only applies when the challenged
law or clause results in a “suspect classification”;
Second, the use of a strict scrutiny standard of review creates a
reverse onus: the ordinary presumption of constitution-
_______________
4 487 Phil. 531; 446 SCRA 299 (2004).
5 G.R. No. 167614, March 24, 2009, 582 SCRA 254.
6 See note 4. In Central Bank, the classification was based on salary grade or
officer-employee status. In the words of the decision, “It is akin to a distinction based
on economic class and status, with higher grades as recipients of a benefit specifically
withheld from the lower grades” (p. 391).
476

Garcia vs. Drilon
ality is reversed and the government carries the burden of proving

that the challenged law or clause is constitutional;
And third, the reverse onus in a strict scrutiny standard of review
directly strikes, in the most glaring manner, at the regularity of the
performance of functions of a co-equal branch of government.
When the court uses a strict standard for review to evaluate the
constitutionality of a law, it proceeds from the premise that the law
established a “suspect classification.” A suspect classification is one
where distinctions are made based on the most invidious bases for
classification that violate the most basic human rights, i.e., on the
basis of race, national origin, alien status, religious affiliation and, to
a certain extent, sex and sexual orientation.7 With a suspect
classification, the most stringent scrutiny of the classification is
applied: the ordinary presumption of constitutionality is reversed
and the government carries the burden of proving the statute’s
constitutionality. This approach is unlike the lowest level of scrutiny
(reasonableness test) that the Court has applied in the past where the
classification is scrutinized and constitutionally upheld if found to
be germane to the purpose of the law. Under a reasonableness test,
there is a presumption of constitutionality and that the laws enacted
by Congress are presumed to fall within its constitutional powers.
To pass strict scrutiny, the government must actively show that
the classification established in the law is justified by a compelling
governmental interest and the means chosen by the State to
effectuate its purpose must be narrowly tailored to the achievement
of that goal.8 In the context of the present
_______________
7 See note 5, at p. 321. Citing City of Cleburn, Texas v. Cleburne Living Center,
413 U.S. 432 (1985); Loving v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967).
8 Grutter v. Bollinger, 539 U.S. 306 (2003). See Pamore v. Sidoti, 466 U.S. 429,
432 (1984); Loving v. Commonwealth of Virginia, supra note 7; and Graham v.
Richardson, 403 U.S. 365, 375 (1971).
477
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 477

Garcia vs. Drilon
case, is the resulting classification in the present law so

outstandingly harmful to men in general so that a strict scrutiny is
called for?I
do not really see any indication that Congress actually intended
to classify women and children as a group against men, under the
terms of R.A. No. 9262. Rather than a clear intent at classification,
the overriding intent of the law is indisputably to harmonize
family relations and protect the family as a basic social
institution.9 After sifting through the comprehensive information
gathered, Congress found that domestic and other forms of violence
against women and children impedes the harmony of the family and
the personal growth and development of family members. In the
process, Congress found that these types of violence must pointedly
be addressed as they are more commonly experienced by women
and children due to the unequal power relations of men and women
in our society; Congress had removed these types of violence as they
are impediments that block the harmonious development that it
envisions for the family, of which men are important component
members.
Even granting that a classification resulted in the law, I do not
consider the classification of women and children to be within the
“suspect classification” that jurisprudence has established. As I
mentioned earlier, suspect classifications are distinctions based on
the most invidious bases for classification that violate the most basic
human rights. Some criteria used in determining suspect
classifications are: (1) the group possesses an immutable and/or
highly visible trait;10 and (2) they are powerless to protect
themselves via the political process.11 The group is a “discrete” and
“insular” minority.12
_______________
9 Congressional Records, Vol. III, No. 51, January 14, 2004, pp. 141-147. See p.
25 of the ponencia.
10 477 U.S. 635 (1986).
11 United States v. Carolene Products Company, 304 U.S. 144 (1938).
12 Frontiero v. Richardson, 411 U.S. 677 (1973).
478

Garcia vs. Drilon
Women and children, to my mind, simply do not fall within these

criteria.
In my view, a suspect classification and the accompanying strict
scrutiny should depend on the circumstances of the case, on the
impact of the illegal differential treatment on the group involved, on
the needed protection and the impact of recognizing a suspect
classification on future classification.13 A suspect classification label
cannot solely and automatically be triggered by the circumstance
that women and children are accorded special protection by the
Constitution. In fact, there is no place for a strict level of scrutiny
when the Constitution itself has recognized the need for special
protection; where such recognition has been made, congressional
action should carry the presumption of validity.
Similarly, a suspect classification and the accompanying strict
scrutiny standard cannot be solely based on the circumstance that the
law has the effect of being “gender-specific.” I believe that the
classification in the law was not immediately brought on by
considerations of gender or sex; it was simply a reality as
unavoidable as the reality that in Philippine society, a marriage
is composed of a man, a woman and their children. An obvious
reason, of course, why the classification did not solely depend on
gender is because the law also covers children, without regard to
their sex or their sexual orientation.
Congress was sensitive to these realities and had to address the
problem as it existed in order to pinpoint and remove the obstacles
that lay along the way. With this appreciation of reality, Congress
had no recourse but to identify domestic and other forms of violence
committed on women and their children as among the obstacles that
intrude on the development, peace and harmony of the family. From
this perspective, the objective of the law — the productive devel-
_______________
13 Concurring Opinion in Serrano v. Gallant Maritime Services, Inc., supra note
5, at p. 322.
479
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 479

Garcia vs. Drilon
opment of the family as a whole and the Congress’ view of what

may be done in the area of violence — stand out.
Thus, with the objective of promoting solidarity and the
development of the family, R.A. No. 9262 provides the legal redress
for domestic violence that particularly affects women and their
children. Significantly, the law does not deny, restrict or curtail
civil and human rights of other persons falling outside the
classification, particularly of the men members of the family who
can avail of remedies provided by other laws to ensure the
protection of their own rights and interests. Consequently, the
resulting classification under R.A. No. 9262 is not wholly intended
and does not work an injustice by removing remedies that are
available to men in violence committed against them. The law
furthermore does not target men against women and children and is
there simply to achieve a legitimate constitutional objective, and it
does not achieve this by a particularly harmful classification that can
be labeled “suspect” in the sense already established by
jurisprudence. Under the circumstances, the use and application of
strict scrutiny review, or even the use of an expanded equal
protection perspective, strike me as both unnecessary and
disproportionate.
As my final point, the level of review that the Court chooses to
apply is crucial as it determines both the process and the outcome of
a given case. The reverse onus that a strict scrutiny brings ignores
the most basic presumption of constitutionality that the courts
consistently adhere to when resolving issues of constitutionality. It
also infringes on the regularity of performance of functions of co-
equal branches of government. As the Court pronounced in Drilon v.
Lim:14
In the exercise of this jurisdiction, lower courts are advised to act

with the utmost circumspection, bearing in
_______________
14 G.R. No. 112497, August 4, 1994, 235 SCRA 135, 140; citation omitted.
480

Garcia vs. Drilon
mind the consequences of a declaration of unconstitutionality upon

the stability of laws, no less than on the doctrine of separation of
powers. As the questioned act is usually the handiwork of the
legislative or the executive departments, or both, it will be prudent
for such courts, if only out of a becoming modesty, to defer to the
higher judgment of this Court in the consideration of its validity,
which is better determined after a thorough deliberation by a
collegiate body and with the concurrence of the majority of those
who participated in its discussion.
It is also emphasized that every court, including this Court, is
charged with the duty of a purposeful hesitation before declaring a
law unconstitutional, on the theory that the measure was first
carefully studied by the executive and the legislative departments and
determined by them to be in accordance with the fundamental law
before it was finally approved. To doubt is to sustain. The
presumption of constitutionality can be overcome only by the clearest
showing that there was indeed an infraction of the Constitution, and
only when such a conclusion is reached by the required majority may
the Court pronounce, in the discharge of the duty it cannot escape,
that the challenged act must be struck down.
Inter-government harmony and courtesy demand that we reserve

the strict scrutiny standard of review to the worst possible cases of
unacceptable classification, abject forms of discrimination, and the
worst violations of the Constitution.15 R.A. No. 9262 does not
present such a case.
In these lights, I conclude that a valid classification exists to
justify whatever differential treatment may exist in the law. I vote to
deny the petition and uphold the constitutionality of R.A. No.
9262 using the lowest level of scrutiny under the reasonableness
test.
_______________
15 Concurring Opinion in Serrano v. Gallant Maritime Services, Inc., supra note
5, at p. 322.
481
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 481

Garcia vs. Drilon
SEPARATE CONCURRING OPINION

ABAD, J.:
Republic Act 9262 (R.A. 9262) or the Anti-Violence against
Women and their Children Act is a historic step in the Filipino
women’s long struggle to be freed from a long-held belief that men
are entitled, when displeased or minded, to hit their wives or
partners and their children. This law institutionalizes prompt
community response to this violent behavior through barangay
officials who can command the man to immediately desist from
harming his home partner and their children. It also establishes
domestic violence as a crime, not only against its victims but against
society as well. No longer
is domestic violence lightly dismissed as a case of marital
dispute that law enforcers ought not to get into.1
Almost eight years after the passage of this landmark legislation,
petitioner Jesus C. Garcia, a husband charged with the offense,
claims before the Court that R.A. 9262 violates his constitutional
rights to due process and equal protection and that it constitutes an
undue delegation of judicial power to barangay officials with
respect to the Temporary Protection Order (TPO) that the latter
could issue against him for his alleged maltreatment of his wife and
children.
This separate concurring opinion will address the issue of equal
protection since it presents the more serious challenge to the
constitutionality of the law. Men and women are supposed to be
equal yet this particular law provides immediate relief to
complaining women and harsh consequences to their men even
before the matter reaches the courtroom, a relief not available to the
latter. The law, Garcia says, violates his right to equal protection
because it is gender-specific, favoring
_______________
1 SALIGAN Women’s Unit, “Strengthening Responses to Violence against
Women: Overcoming Legal Challenges in the Anti-Violence Against Women and
their Children Act” (March 2008), Ateneo Law Journal.
482

Garcia vs. Drilon
only women when men could also be victims of domestic violence.

Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe ran the issue of equal protection in
her ponencia through the litmus test for holding a law valid even
when it affects only a particular class, a test that the Court laid down
in People v. Vera.2 A legislative classification, according to Vera, is
reasonable as long as: 1) it rests on substantial distinctions which
make real differences; 2) it is germane to the purpose of the law; 3)
it is not limited to existing conditions but applies as well to future
identical conditions; and 4) it applies equally to all members of the
same class.3 I dare not improve on Justice Bernabe’s persuasive
reasoning and conclusions.
I agree with her but would like to hinge my separate concurring
opinion on the concept of an Expanded Equal Protection Clause that
former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno espouses in his book: Equal
Dignity and Respect: The Substance of Equal Protection and Social
Justice.
Chief Justice Puno’s thesis is that the right to equal protection
casts another shadow when the issue raised under it involves persons
protected by the social justice provision of the Constitution,
specifically, Section 1, Article XIII. The equal protection clause can
no longer be interpreted as only a guarantee of formal equality4 but
of substantive equality. “It ought to be construed,” said the Chief
Justice, “in consonance with social justice as ‘the heart’ particularly
of the 1987 Constitution — a transformative covenant in which the
Filipino people agreed to enshrine asymmetrical equality to uplift
_______________
2 65 Phil. 56 (1937).
3 Id., at p. 126.
4 It holds that two persons with equal status in at least one normatively relevant
respect must be treated equally with regard to this respect.
483
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 483

Garcia vs. Drilon
disadvantaged groups and build a genuinely egalitarian

democracy.”5
This means that the weak, including women in relation to men,
can be treated with a measure of bias that they may cease to be
weak.
Chief Justice Puno goes on: “The Expanded Equal Protection
Clause, anchored on the human rights rationale, is designed as a
weapon against the indignity of discrimination so that in the patently
unequal Philippine society, each person may be restored to his or her
rightful position as a person with equal moral status.”6 Specifically,
the expanded equal protection clause should be understood as meant
to “reduce social, economic, and political inequalities, and remove
cultural inequities by equitably diffusing wealth and political power
for the common good.”7 Borrowing the language of Law v. Canada8
case and adding his own thoughts, the Chief Justice said:
The purpose of the Expanded Equal Protection Clause is to

protect and enhance the right to dignity by: 1) preventing the
imposition, perpetuation and aggravation “of disadvantage,
stereotyping, or political [,economic, cultural,] or social prejudice;”
and 2) promo[ting a Philippine] society in which all persons enjoy
equal recognition at law as human beings.9
Chief Justice Puno points out that the equal protection clause
must be interpreted in connection with the social justice provisions
of the Constitution “so as not to frustrate or
_______________
5 Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno (ret.), “Equal Dignity and Respect: The Substance
of Equal Protection and Social Justice,” (2012), p. 546.
6 Id., at p. 523.
7 1987 Philippine Constitution, Art. XIII, Section 1.
8 1 S.C.R. 497 (1999).
9 Supra note 5, at pp. 512-513.
484

Garcia vs. Drilon
water down the constitutional commitment to promote

substantive equality and build the genuinely “just and humane
society” that Filipinos aspire for, as stated in the Preamble of the
1987 Constitution.”
But the expanded concept of equal protection, said Chief Justice
Puno, only applies to the government’s ameliorative action or
discriminatory actions intended to improve the lot of the
disadvantaged. Laws challenged for invalid classification because of
being unreasonable or arbitrary, but not discriminatory, are outside
the scope of the expanded equal protection clause. Such cases fall
under the traditional equal protection clause which protects the right
to formal equality and determines the validity of classifications
through the well established reasonableness test.10
Here, petitioner Garcia argues that R.A. 9262 violates the
guarantee of equal protection because the remedies against personal
violence that it provides may be invoked only by the wives or
women partners but not by the husbands or male partners even if the
latter could possibly be victims of violence by their women partners.
Women, he claims, are also capable of committing physical,
psychological, emotional, and even sexual abuse against their
husbands and children.
Garcia further assails the title of the law — “An Act Defining
Violence against Women and Their Children, Providing for
Protective Measures for Victims, Prescribing Penalties Therefor, and
for Other Purposes” — as pejorative and sex-discriminatory. R.A.
9262 is an “anti-male,” “husbandbashing,” and “hate-men” law. It
establishes a special category of domestic violence offenses which is
akin to legislating hate crimes and imposes penalties based solely on
gender; it singles out the husband or father as the culprit, a clear
form of “class legislation.”
_______________
10 Id., at pp. 543-544.
485
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 485

Garcia vs. Drilon
But the Constitution requires the State to “ensure the

fundamental equality before the law of men and women.” Further, it
commands Congress to “give highest priority to the enactment of
measures that protect and enhance the rights of all the people to
human dignity x x x.” and this includes women. In his speech during
the joint launching on October 27, 2004 of R.A. 9262 and its
Implementing Rules, Chief Justice Puno recalled the historical and
social context of gender-based violence that underpin its enactment.
Thus:
History reveals that most societies sanctioned the use of violence

against women. The patriarch of a family was accorded the right to
use force on members of the family under his control. I quote the
early studies:
Traditions subordinating women have a long history
rooted in patriarchy—the institutional rule of men. Women
were seen in virtually all societies to be naturally inferior both
physically and intellectually. In ancient western societies,
women whether slave, concubine or wife, were under the
authority of men. In law, they were treated as property.
The Roman concept of patria potestas allowed the husband to
beat, or even kill, his wife if she endangered his property right over
her. Judaism, Christianity and other religions oriented towards the
patriarchal family strengthened the male dominated structure of
society.
English feudal law reinforced the tradition of male control over
women. Even the eminent Blackstone has been quoted in his
commentaries as saying husband and wife were one and that one was
the husband. However, in the late 1500s and through the entire
1600s, English common law began to limit the right of husbands to
chastise their wives. Thus, common law developed the rule of thumb,
which allowed husbands to beat their wives with a rod or stick no
thicker than their thumb.
Article II, Section 14 of the 1987 Constitution states:
486

Garcia vs. Drilon
The State recognizes the role of women in nation-building, and

shall ensure the fundamental equality before the law of women and
men.
Also, Article XIII, Section 1 of the 1987 Constitution further

states:
The Congress shall give highest priority to the enactment of

measures that protect and enhance the rights of all the people to
human dignity, reduce social, economic, and political inequalities,
and remove cultural inequities by equitably diffusing wealth and
political power for the common good.
xxxx
The above provisions of the Constitution abundantly authorize

Congress or the government to actively undertake ameliorative
action that would remedy existing inequalities and inequities
experienced by women and children brought about by years of
discrimination. The equal protection clause when juxtaposed to this
provision provides a stronger mandate for the government to combat
such discrimination. Indeed, these provisions order Congress to
“give highest priority to the enactment of measures that protect and
enhance the right of all the people to human dignity, reduce social,
economic, and political inequalities and remove cultural inequities.”
No doubt, historically, the Philippine tribal and family model
hews close to patriarchy, a pattern that is deeply embedded in the
society’s subconscious. Consequently, it can be said that in enacting
R.A. 9262, Congress has taken an ameliorative action that would
address the evil effects of such social model on Filipino women and
children and elevate their status as human beings on the same level
as the father or the husband.
What remedies does R.A. 9262 especially provide women and
children? The law is gender-specific as only they may file the
prescribed actions against offenders, whether men or women, with
whom the victims are or were in lesbian rela-
487
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 487

Garcia vs. Drilon
tionships.11 The definition includes past or present marital, live-in,

sexual or dating relationships.
This law also provides for the remedy of a protection order in a
civil action or in a criminal action, aside from the criminal action for
its violation. It makes the process of securing a restraining order
against perpetrators easier and more immediate by providing for the
legal remedy of protection orders from both the courts and barangay
officials.
R.A. 9262 aims to put a stop to the cycle of male abuses borne of
discrimination against women. It is an ameliorative measure, not a
form of “reverse discrimination” against men as Garcia would have
it. Ameliorative action “is not, as Hogg remarked, an exception to
equality, but an expression and attainment of de facto equality, the
genuine and substantive equality which the Filipino people
themselves enshrined as a goal of the 1987 Constitution.”12
Ameliorative measures are necessary as a redistributive mechanism
in an unequal society to achieve substantive equality.13
In the context of women’s rights, substantive equality has been
defined by the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) as equality which
requires that women be given an equal start and that they be
empowered by an enabling environment to achieve equality of
results. It is not enough to guarantee women treatment that is
identical to that of men. Rather, biological as well as socially and
culturally constructed differences between women and men must be
taken into account. Under certain circumstances, non-identical
treatment of women and men will be required in order to address
such differences.
_______________
11 Maria Rowena Amelia V. Guanzon, “The Anti-Violence Against Women and
Their Children Act of 2004 (Republic Act No. 9262),” 2009.
12 Supra note 5 at p. 527.
13 Id., at p. 497.
488

Garcia vs. Drilon
Women’s struggle for equality with men has evolved under three
models:
1. Formal equality — women and men are to be regarded and
treated as the same. But this model does not take into account
biological and socially constructed differences between women and
men.14 It uses male standards and assumes that women have equal
access to such standards.15 By failing to take into account these
differences, a formal equality approach may in fact perpetuate
discrimination and disadvantage.16
2. Protectionist model — this recognizes differences between
women and men but considers women’s weakness as the rationale
for different treatment.17 This approach reinforces the inferior status
of women and does not address the issue of discrimination of
women on account of their gender.18
3. Substantive equality model — this assumes that women are
“not vulnerable by nature, but suffer from imposed disadvantage”
and that “if these imposed disadvantages were eliminated, there was
no further need for protection.”19 Thus, the substantive equality
model gives prime importance to women’s contexts, realities, and
experiences, and the outcomes or results of acts and measures
directed, at or affecting them, with a view to eliminating the
disadvantages they experience as women.20
_______________
14 IWRAW Asia Pacific Manual on CEDAW: Building Capacity for Change
15 Id.
16 Supra note 11, at p. 42, citing Fredman, S. and Spencer, S., “Beyond
Discrimination: It’s Time for Enforceable Duties on Public Bodies to promote
Equality of Outcomes,” E.H.R.L.R. Issue 6, 601 (2006)”
17 Supra note 14.
18 Supra note 11, at p. 43.
19 Id., at pp. 43-44, citing Goonesekere.
20 Id., at p. 44.
489
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 489

Garcia vs. Drilon
Clearly, the substantive equality model inspired R.A. 9262. For

one thing, Congress enacted it because of compelling interest in
preventing and addressing the serious problem of violence against
women in the context of intimate relationships — recognized all
over the world as one of the most insidious forms of gender
discrimination.21 For another, R.A. 9262 is based on the experiences
of women who have been victims of domestic violence. The list of
acts regarded as forms of violence22 come from true-to-life stories of
women who have suffered abuses from their male partners. Finally,
R.A. 9262 seeks women’s full participation in society. Hence, the
law grants them needed relief to ensure equality, protection, and
personal safety, enabling them to enjoy their civil, political, social,
and economic rights. The provision on protection orders, for
instance, precisely aims to safeguard “the victim from further harm,
minimizing any disruption in the victim’s daily life, and facilitating
the opportunity and ability of the victim to independently regain
control over her life.”23
For the above reasons, I vote to dismiss the petition for lack of
merit.
_______________
21 Id., at p. 45.
22 SEC. 3. Definition of Terms.—As used in this Act.
(a) “Violence against women and their children” refers to any act or a series
of acts committed by any person against a woman who is his wife, former wife, or
against a woman 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 result 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. (Emphasis supplied)
23 REPUBLIC ACT 9262, Sec. 8.
490

Garcia vs. Drilon
CONCURRING OPINION
LEONEN, J.:
I join the ponencia in denying the challenge to the
constitutionality of Republic Act No. 9262 otherwise known as the
“Anti-Violence against Women and their Children Act of 2004” at
least for this case. I write separately to clarify the basis of my
agreement.
The petitioner is not the victim in this case. He does not have
legal standing to raise the constitutional issue.
He appears to have inflicted violence against private respondents.
Petitioner admitted having an affair with a bank manager. He
callously boasted about their sexual relations to the household help.
His infidelity emotionally wounded private respondent. Their
quarrels left her with bruises and hematoma. Petitioner also
unconscionably beat up their daughter, Joann, whom he blamed for
squealing on him.
All these drove respondent to despair causing her to attempt
suicide on December 17, 2005 by slitting her wrist. Instead of taking
her to the hospital, petitioner left the house. He never visited her
when she was confined for seven (7) days. He even told his mother-
in-law that respondent should just accept his extramarital affair since
he is not cohabiting with his paramour and has not sired a child with
her.
The private respondent was determined to separate from
petitioner. But she was afraid he would take away their children and
deprive her of financial support. He warned her that if she pursued
legal battle, she would not get a single centavo from him. After she
confronted him of his affair, he forbade her to hold office at JBTC
Building. This deprived her of access to full information about their
businesses.
Thus, the Regional Trial Court found reasonable ground to
believe there was imminent danger of violence against respondent
and her children and issued a series of Temporary
491
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 491

Garcia vs. Drilon
Protection Orders (TPO) ordering petitioner, among other things, to

surrender all his firearms including a .9MM caliber firearm and a
Walther PPK.
This is the quintessential case where the full effects of Republic
Act No. 9262 or the “VAWC” should take effect.
Seen in this light, petitioner’s belated challenge to the law is
nothing but a cheap attempt to raise cherished fundamental
constitutional principles to escape legal responsibility for causing
indignities in another human being. There is enough in our legal
order to prevent the abuse of legal principles to condone immoral
acts.
For us to proceed to rule on Constitutional issues, we have
required that: (1) there must be an actual case or controversy calling
for the exercise of judicial power; (2) the person challenging the act
must have “standing” to challenge; he must have a personal and
substantial interest in the case, such that he has sustained or will
sustain, direct injury as a result of its enforcement; (3) the question
of constitutionality must be raised at the earliest possible
opportunity; and (4) the issue of constitutionality must be the very
lis mota of the case.1
Legal standing in cases that raise constitutional issues is
essential. Locus standi is defined as “a right of appearance in a court
of justice on a given question.”2 The fundamental question is
“whether a party alleges such personal stake in the outcome of the
controversy as to assure that concrete adverseness which sharpens
the presentation of issues upon
_______________
1 Angara v. Electoral Commission, 63 Phil. 139, 158 (1936), People v. Vera, 65
Phil. 56 (1937). See also Mariano Jr. v. Commission on Elections, 312 Phil. 259, 270;
242 SCRA 211, 220-221 (1995); Funa v. Executive Secretary Ermita, G.R. No.
184740, February 11, 2010, 612 SCRA 308, 317.
2 David v. Macapagal-Arroyo, 522 Phil. 705, 755; 489 SCRA 160, 216 (2006)
citing BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY 941 (Sixth Edition, 1991).
492

Garcia vs. Drilon
which the court depends for illumination of difficult constitutional

questions.3
In private suits, standing is governed by the “real-parties-in-
interest” rule under Section 2, Rule 3 of the 1997 Rules of Civil
Procedure in that “every action must be prosecuted or defended in
the name of the real party-in-interest.”4 “Interest” means material
interest or an interest in issue to be affected by the judgment of the
case, as distinguished from mere curiosity about the question
involved.5
Thus, there must be a present substantial interest as distinguished
from a mere inchoate expectancy or a future, contingent,
subordinate, or consequential interest.6 Standing is based on one’s
own right to the relief sought.
The doctrine of locus standi in cases raising constitutional issues
frames the power of judicial review that we wield. This is the power
“to settle actual controversies involving rights which are legally
demandable and enforceable” as well as “to determine whether or
not there has been a grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or
excess jurisdiction on the part of any branch or instrumentality of
the Government.”7
The presence of an “actual case” prevents this Court from
providing advisory opinions or using its immense power of judicial
review absent the presence of a party with real and substantial
interests to clarify the issues based upon his/her experience and
standpoint. It prevents this Court from speculating and rendering
rulings on the basis of pure theory. Our
_______________
3 Galicto v. Aquino III, G.R. No. 193978, February 28, 2012, 667 SCRA 150, 170.
4 Baltazar v. Ombudsman, 539 Phil. 131, 139; 510 SCRA 74, 83 (2006).
5 Goco, et al. v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 157449, April 6, 2010, 617 SCRA
397, 405. See also IBP v. Zamora, 392 Phil. 618, 633; 338 SCRA 81, 100 (2000).
6 Galicto v. Aquino III, supra.
7 CONSTITUTION, Art. VIII, Sec. 1, par. (2).
493
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 493

Garcia vs. Drilon
doctrines on justiciability are self-imposed applications of a

fundamental view that we accord a presumption of constitutionality
to acts done by the other constitutional organs and departments of
government. Generally, we do not strike down acts done by co-equal
departments until their repugnancy to the Constitution can be shown
clearly and materially.
I am aware of our precedents where this Court has waived
questions relating to the justiciability of the constitutional issues
raised when they have “transcendental importance” to the public.8 In
my view, this accommodates our power to promulgate guidance
“concerning the protection and enforcement of constitutional
rights”.9 We choose to rule squarely on the constitutional issues in a
petition wanting all or some of the technical requisites to meet our
general doctrines on justiciability but raising clear conditions
showing imminent threat to fundamental rights. The imminence and
clarity of the threat to fundamental constitutional rights outweigh the
necessity for prudence. In a sense, our exceptional doctrine relating
to constitutional issues of “transcendental importance” prevents
courts from the paralysis of procedural niceties when clearly faced
with the need for substantial protection.
That necessity is wanting in this case.
The extraordinary discretion to move beyond the well established
doctrines on justiciability must be carefully exercised in cases
involving social legislation that seeks to rectify historical and
cultural injustices present in our communities
_______________
8 Kilosbayan, Incorporated v. Guingona, G.R. No. 113375, May 5, 1994, 232
SCRA 110, 139. See also Francisco v. House of Representatives, 460 Phil. 830, 899;
415 SCRA 44, 113 (2003), Funa v. Villar, G.R. No. 192791, April 24, 2012, 670
SCRA 579, 595.
9 CONSTITUTION, Art. VIII, Sec. 5, par. (5) relates to the power of the Court to
promulgate rules concerning the protection and enforcement of constitutional rights.
It was introduced only in the 1987 Constitution borne of historical experiences where
judicial succor was wanting.
494

Garcia vs. Drilon
and societies. As carefully pointed out in the erudite ponencia of

Justice Perlas-Bernabe, Republic Act No. 9262 was borne out of the
struggles of countless women who suffered indignities. It cannot be
undone by a petition filed by someone who cannot, by any stretch of
the most fertile imagination, be considered the victim.
Nevertheless, in a future case more deserving of our attention, we
should be open to realities which may challenge the dominant
conception that violence in intimate relationships only happens to
women and children. This may be predominantly true, but even
those in marginal cases deserve fundamental constitutional and
statutory protection. We should be careful that in correcting
historical and cultural injustices, we may typecast all women as
victims, stereotype all men as tormentors or make invisible the
possibility that in some intimate relationships, men may also want to
seek succor against acts defined in Section 5 of Republic Act No.
926210 in an expeditious manner.
_______________
10 Section 5. Acts of Violence Against Women and Their Children.—The crime
of violence against women and their children is committed through any of the
following acts:
(a) Causing physical harm to the woman or her child;
(b) Threatening to cause the woman or her child physical harm;
(c) Attempting to cause the woman or her child physical harm;
(d) Placing the woman or her child in fear of imminent physical harm;
(e) Attempting to compel or compelling the woman or her child to engage
in conduct which the woman or her child has the right to desist from or desist
from conduct which the woman or her child has the right to engage in, or
attempting to restrict or restricting the woman’s or her child’s freedom of
movement or conduct by force or threat of force, physical or other harm or
threat of physical or other harm, or intimidation directed against the woman or
child. This shall include, but not limited to, the following acts committed with
the purpose or effect of controlling or restricting the woman’s or her child’s
movement or conduct:
(1) Threatening to deprive or actually depriving the woman or her
child of custody to her/his family;
495
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 495

Garcia vs. Drilon
Husband abuse may be an underreported form of family

violence.11 According to a Quezon City Police District Crime
_______________
(2) Depriving or threatening to deprive the woman or her children
of financial support legally due her or her family, or deliberately
providing the woman’s children insufficient financial support;
(3) Depriving or threatening to deprive the woman or her child of a
legal right;
(4) Preventing the woman in engaging in any legitimate profession,
occupation, business or activity or controlling the victim’s own money
or properties, or solely controlling the conjugal or common money, or
properties
(f) Inflicting or threatening to inflict physical harm on oneself for the
purpose of controlling her actions or decisions;
(g) Causing or attempting to cause the woman or her child to engage in any
sexual activity which does not constitute rape, by force or threat of force,
physical harm, or through intimidation directed against the woman or her
child or her/his immediate family;
(h) Engaging in purposeful, knowing, or reckless conduct, personally or
through another, that alarms or causes substantial emotional or psychological
distress to the woman or her child. This shall include, but not be limited to,
the following acts:
(1) Stalking or following the woman or her child in public or private
places;
(2) Peering in the window or lingering outside the residence of the
woman or her child;
(3) Entering or remaining in the dwelling or on the property of the
woman or her child against her/his will;
(4) Destroying the property and personal belongings or inflicting
harm to animals or pets of the woman or her child; and
(5) Engaging in any form of harassment or violence
(i) Causing 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.
11 T. Lewin, Battered Men Sounding Equal-Rights Battle Cry, THE NEW YORK
TIMES NATIONAL (April 20, 1992) <http://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/20/us/battered-
men-sounding-equal-rights-battlecry.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm> (visited May
27, 2013). See also C. M.
496

Garcia vs. Drilon
Laboratory chief, in his 10 years as medico-legal officer, he had

only received three cases of men complaining of spousal abuse.12
Another recent study found the same underreporting but explored
the experiences of abuse in intimate relationships of six Filipino
husbands.13 Their experiences were described as follows:
All the participants acknowledged that they experienced abuse,

but the forms differed from one husband to another. Four out of the
six participants admitted that their spouses’ abusive behavior would
initially start with verbal attacks and put-downs then would shift to
physical abuse as their verbal tussle intensified. Most of the abuses
cited by the participants happened in the confines of their home, but
could also happen in public places.
The constant threats, in the long term, affected the emotional and
psychological well being of the participants. Four of the husbands
felt that their spouses were capable of carrying out their threats. The
frequent and long fights could be emotionally draining. Throughout
the duration of marriage, EC suffered emotionally from
_______________
RENZETTI AND D. J. CURRAN, WOMEN, MEN AND SOCIETY 164 (Second Edition, 1992) citing
Steinmetz, 1978.
12 C. Delfin, Ever Heard of Battered Husbands? GMA News Online (February 13, 2008)
<http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/
story/80412/lifestyle/ever-heard-of-battered-husbands> (visited May 27, 2013). See also ATTY.
A. Ordoñez Sison, Abused and the Battered Man (2009).
13 J. J. Jurisprudencia, Coming out of the Shadows: Husbands Speak About Their
Experience of Abuse in Intimate Relationships, 40 PHILIPPINE JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY No. 2
(2007). In the study, JL was a teacher in one of the schools in Metro Manila. RE was a
university teacher. HM is a medical doctor. DL was a Physics and Engineering graduate. EC
was a teacher. TG finished his MBA as well as his Bachelor of Laws at a reputable institution
but did not take the bar.
497
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 497

Garcia vs. Drilon
the “weird” marital set-up. For TG, emotional abuse was associated
with shattered trust.
The physical abuse for some participants became life-threatening
to the extent that the injury incurred needed medical attention. Their
spouses could use weapons against them. Four participants described
the incidents that led to their injuries. Coming home one night, RE
saw “this mono block chair flying…hit me…right on the nose.” DL
narrated “…pumunta ako ng doctor on my own para ipalinis yung
sugat ko.” According to HM, his wound from a knife attack was wide
and deep and needed “…some stiches.” JL had to contend with the
long scratches in his chest and back. RE almost lost an eye when he
was hit with a straight punch of the spouse. JL, RE, and DL would lie
to colleagues to avoid being laughed at. DL had to be absent from his
work after being hit by a flying de lata (canned good) thrown at him
during a fight.
Emotional abuse co-existed with verbal and/or physical abuse.
The participants who were recipients of physical abuse were also
emotionally abused when they became susceptible to stress and
threats of the abuser. JL felt guilty when the spouse carried out her
threat of killing herself by intentionally taking an overdose of pills in
the middle of an intense disagreement.
Emotional abuse could occur without physical abuse and yet its
effects were still devastating. For instance, EC and TG were
devastated by the lies and deceit of their spouses. The spouse’s
threats of suicide (JL), abandonment (RE), or taking their children
away after a fight (DL) were as distressing as the other forms of
abuse experienced by the participants.14
Social and cultural expectations on masculinity and male

dominance urge men to keep quiet about being a victim, adding to
the unique experience of male victims of domestic
_______________
14 Id., at pp. 41-42.
498

Garcia vs. Drilon
abuse.15 This leads to latent depression among boys and men.16 In a

sense, patriarchy while privileging men also victimizes them.
It is true that numerous literature relate violence against women
with the historically unequal power relations between men and
women, leading to domination over and discrimination against the
latter.17 Sociologists cite the 18th-century
_______________
15 K. F. Hogan, J. R. Hegarty, T. Ward, and L. J. Dodd, Counsellors’ Experiences
of Working with Male Victims of Female-Perpetrated Domestic Abuse, COUNSELLING
AND PSYCHOTHERAPY RESEARCH (2011).
16 See S. V. Cochran and F. E. Rabinowitz, Men and Depression: Clinical and
Empirical Perspectives (2000).<http://books.google.
com.ph/books?
id=bOVTz8HgDoC&pg=PR12&lpg=PR12&dq=Early+workers+in+the+field+including+Pleck+and+Sawyer&source=bl&ots=G8bTheyAtB&sig=86_y6WVG_36VuTj3Lh6w585N2qM&hl=en&
Early%20workers%20in%20the%20field%20including%20
Pleck%20and%20Sawyer&f=false > (visited March 7, 2013).
Early workers in the field including Pleck and Sawyer (1974), Farrell
(1975), Fasteau (1974) and Goldberg (1976) took up the challenge to
traditional masculine values that feminists had made and began to examine
the negative and oppressive aspects of traditionally constructed gender roles.
These efforts included an examination of the psychologically restrictive
nature of most of the cultural conditioning little boys and men experience.
Pleck (1981), in his seminal critique of male gender identity ideology,
introduced the concept of male gender role strain and conflict.
See also J. H. Pleck, The Gender Role Strain: An Update and S. J. Bergman, Men’s
Psychological Development: A Relational Perspective, in R.F. LEVANT AND W.S.
POLLACK, A NEW PSYCHOLOGY OF MEN 11-32 AND 68-90 (1995). ALSO T. REAL, I DON’T
WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT: OVERCOMING THE SECRET LEGACY OF MALE DEPRESSION (1997)
AND HOW CAN I GET THROUGH TO YOU? CLOSING THE INTIMACY GAP BETWEEN MEN AND
WOMEN (2002).
17 Domestic Violence Against Women and Girls, No. 6, UNICEF Innocenti Digest
(2000).
499
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 499

Garcia vs. Drilon
English legal tradition on the “rule of thumb” giving husbands

the right to beat their wives with a stick no thicker than a thumb.18 In
America, women were regarded as property until the latter half of
the 19th century with marital violence considered a husband’s
privilege and men, as of right, exercised physical domination over
women.19
The perspective portraying women as victims with a heritage of
victimization20 results in the unintended consequence of
permanently perceiving all women as weak. This has not always
been accepted by many other strands in the Feminist Movement.
As early as the 70s, the nationalist movement raised questions on
the wisdom of a women’s movement and its possible divisive
effects, as “class problems deserve unified and concentrated
attention [while] the women question is vague, abstract, and does
not have material base.”21
In the early 80s, self-identifying feminist groups were formed.22
The “emancipation theory” posits that female crime
_______________
18 S.D. Amussen, Being Stirred to Much Unquietness: Violence and Domestic
Violence in Early Modern England, Vol. 6 No. 2 JOURNAL OF WOMEN’S HISTORY, 70-89
(1994).
19 P. M. Jablow, Victims of Abuse and Discrimination: Protecting Battered
Homosexuals Under Domestic Violence Legislation, 28 Hofstra L Rev 1096-1097
(2000).
20 C. Sorisio, A Tale of Two Feminism: Power and Victimization in Contemporary
Feminist Debate, 137 in THIRD WAVE AGENDA: BEING FEMINIST, DOING FEMINISM,
edited by L. Heywood and J. Drake (1997).
21 See C. I. Sobritchea, The Second Wave of the Women’s Movement in the
Philippines and the Evolution of Feminist Politics, 47, quoting A. F. Santos from The
Philippine Women’s Movement: Problems of Perception, GENDER CULTURE AND
SOCIETY: SELECTED READINGS IN WOMEN STUDIES IN THE PHILIPPINES (2004).

22 Id., at p. 44.
500
Garcia vs. Drilon
has increased and has become more masculine in character as a

result of the women’s liberation movement.23
Feminism also has its variants among Muslims. In 2009,
Musawah (“equality” in Arabic) was launched as a global movement
for equity and justice in the Muslim family. It brought together
activists, scholars, legal practitioners, policy makers, and grassroots
women and men from all over the world.34 Their belief is that there
cannot be justice without equality, and its holistic framework
integrates Islamic teachings, universal human rights, national
constitutional guarantees of equality, and the lived realities of
women and men.25
There is now more space to believe that portraying only women
as victims will not always promote gender equality before the law. It
sometimes aggravates the gap by conceding that women have
always been dominated by men. In doing so, it renders empowered
women invisible; or, in some cases, that men as human beings can
also become victims.
In this light, it may be said that violence in the context of
intimate relationships should not be seen and encrusted as a gender
issue; rather, it is a power issue.26 Thus, when laws are not gender-
neutral, male victims of domestic violence may also suffer from
double victimization first by their abusers and second by the judicial
system.27 Incidentally, focusing on women as the victims entrenches
some level of heteronorma-
_______________
23 See C. M. Renzetti and D. J. Curran, Chapter 9 on Gender, Crime and Justice,
WOMEN, MEN AND SOCIETY 220-249 (Second Edition, 1992).
24 See <http://www.musawah.org/> (visited February 26, 2013). MUSAWAH is
considered a movement rather than an organization.
25 Id. Musawa is represented in the Philippines by Nisa Ul Haqq Fi Bangsamoro
or “Women for Justice in the Bangsamoro.”
26 A. Detschelt, Recognizing Domestic Violence Directed Towards Men:
Overcoming Societal Perceptions, Conducting Accurate Studies, and Enacting
Responsible Legislation, 12 Kan. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 249 (2003).
27 Id.
501
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 501

Garcia vs. Drilon
tivity.28 It is blind to the possibility that, whatever moral positions

are taken by those who are dominant, in reality intimate
relationships can also happen between men.29
I accept that for purposes of advocacy and for a given historical
period, it may be important to highlight abuse of women qua
women.30 This strategy was useful in the passing of Republic Act
No. 9262. It was a strategy that assured that the problem of battered
women and children in the context of various intimate relationships
becomes publicly visible. However, unlike advocacy, laws have the
tendency to be resilient and permanent. Its existence may transcend
historical per-
_______________
28 “[H]eteronormativity is defined as the predominance and privileging of a
definitively heterosexualbased ideology and social structure that acts as the exclusive
interpreter of itself and of all other sexualities in relation to it.” Definition found in A.
Ponce, Shoring up Judicial Awareness: LGBT Refugees and the Recognition of Social
Categories, 18 NEW ENG. J. INT’L & COMP. L. 185 (2012) citing M. Warner, FEAR OF A
QUEER PLANET: QUEER POLITICS AND SOCIAL THEORY (1993).
29 For a comparative analysis of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)
issues and strategies, see M. P. Ofreneo and T. Casal de Vela, Spheres of Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Struggles: A Comparative Feminist Analysis, 14
GENDER TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT No. 2, 197-215 (July 2010). For an
understanding, see B. Fone, HOMOPHOBIA: A HISTORY (2000).
30 x x x essentialism is, among other things, a tool for redressing power
imbalances, as when the group under study is seen by the dominant group as
illegitimate or trivial, or when a stigmatized group forms an oppositional identity to
counter such negative ideologies. Essentialism may therefore be a deliberate move to
enable scholarly activity, to forge a political alliance through the creation of a
common identity, or to otherwise provide a temporarily stable ground for further
social action. Such uses of essentialism have been termed strategic essentialism
(Spivak 1988) as discussed in M. BUCHOTZ, SOCIOLINGUISTIC NOSTALGIA AND THE
AUTHENTICATION OF IDENTITY, 401 (2003). See also M. Lloyd, BEYOND IDENTITY

POLITICS: FEMINISM, POWER AND POLITICS, 64-67 (2005). Similarly, D. Fuss,
ESSENTIALLY SPEAKING: FEMINISM, NATURE AND DIFFERENCE (1989).
502

Garcia vs. Drilon
iods that dictate effective advocacy. Laws also have a constitutive

function — the tendency to create false consciousness when the
labels and categories it mandates succeed in reducing past evils but
turn a blind eye to other issues.
For instance, one of the first cases that laid down the requisites
for determining whether there was a violation of the equal protection
of the law clause of the Constitution was the 1939 case of People v.
Cayat.31 It laid down the requirements of reasonable classification
which requires that it (a) must rest on substantial distinctions, (b)
must be germane to the purposes of the law, (c) must not be limited
to existing conditions only, and (d) must apply equally to all
members of the same class.32 Even
as early as 1919, the Court in Rubi v. Provincial Board of Mindoro33
recognized the concept of reasonable classification holding that
“[t]he pledge that no person shall be denied the equal protection of
the laws is not infringed by a statute which is applicable to all of a
class. The classification must have a reasonable basis and cannot be
purely arbitrary in nature.”34
Yet, it is in these two cases that the Court concluded the
following:
As authority of a judicial nature is the decision of the Supreme

Court in the case of United States vs. Tubban [Kalinga] ([1915], 29,
Phil., 434). The question here arose as to the effect of a tribal
marriage in connection with article 423 of the Penal Code concerning
the husband who surprises his wife in the act of adultery. In
discussing the point, the court makes use of the following language:
x x x we are not advised of any provision of law which
recognizes as legal a tribal marriage of so-called non-
Christians or members of uncivilized
_______________
31 68 Phil. 12 (1939).
32 Id., at p. 18.
33 39 Phil. 660 (1919).
34 Id., at p. 707.
503
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 503

Garcia vs. Drilon
tribes, celebrated within that province without compliance

with the requisites prescribed by General Orders No. 68 x x x.
We hold also that the fact that the accused is shown to be a
member of an uncivilized tribe, of a low order of intelligence,
uncultured and uneducated, should be taken into consideration
as a second marked extenuating circumstance...35 (Emphasis
supplied)
The description of the label and the stereotype of “non-Christian

tribe” would later on be corrected by the Constitution,36 law,37and
jurisprudence.38
The description of the label and the stereotype that only women
can be considered victims may also evolve in the same way. We
should hope that the situation of patriarchy will not be permanent.
Better cultural structures more affirming of human dignity should
evolve.39
In a future case, the fact that there may be battered men should
not cause the nullification of protections given to women and
children.
The Constitution states that: “[t]he State values the dignity of
every human person and guarantees full respect for human rights.”40
The guarantee of full respect should not mean that
_______________
35 Id., at p. 686.
36 Indigenous Cultural Communities, See Constitution, Art. II, Sec. 22; Art. XII,
Sec. 5; Art. XIII, Sec. 1.
37 Republic Act No. 8371; see also the Manahan amendments in Com. Act No.
141, Sec. 48 (c).
38 See for instance Pit-og v. People of the Philippines, 268 Phil. 413; 190 SCRA
386 (1990) and Cruz v. DENR Secretary, et al., 400 Phil. 904; 347 SCRA 128 (2000).
39 See S. Walby, The ‘Declining Significance’ or the ‘Changing Forms’ of
Patriarchy? in PATRIARCHY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: WOMEN’S POSITIONS AT THE
END OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY (1996).

40 CONSTITUTION, Art. II, Sec.11. See also the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights which similarly provides that “all human beings are born free and equal in
dignity and rights” (Art. 1, UDHR)
504

Garcia vs. Drilon
protections already given to those who suffer historical or cultural

prejudices should be automatically rescinded if only the scope of the
law is found wanting.
Our Constitution also mandates that the State “shall ensure the
fundamental equality before the law of women and men.”41 This is
similar to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)42 which requires that the
Philippines as state party take all appropriate measures “[to] modify
the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with
a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and
all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or
the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men
and women.”43 The use of affirmative language should imply that in
the proper suit, a declaration of unconstitutionality on the ground of
the equal protection should not automatically mean that the entire
social legislation that provides effective and efficient protection of
women be set aside.
We have declared that “[a]n unconstitutional act is not a law; it
confers no rights; it imposes no duties; it affords no protection; it
creates no office; it is x x x as inoperative as though it had never
been passed.”44 However, the seemingly
_______________
and “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this
Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language,
religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other
status.” (Art. 2, UDHR)
41 CONSTITUTION, Art. II, Sec. 14.
42 The Philippines signed the CEDAW on July 15, 1980 and ratified the same on
August 5, 1981. Available at <http://treaties.un.
org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV 8&chapter
=4&lang=en>
43 Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women,
Article 5(a).
44 Municipality of Malabang, Lanao Del Sur v. Benito, et al., 137 Phil. 358, 364;
27 SCRA 533, 539 (1969) citing Norton v. Shelby County, 118 U.S. 425, 442 (1886).
505
VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 505

Garcia vs. Drilon
all-inclusive statement of absolute retroactive invalidity may not

always be justified.45 One established exception is the doctrine of
operative fact.
The doctrine of operative fact, as an exception to the general rule,

only applies as a matter of equity and fair play. It nullifies the effects
of an unconstitutional law by recognizing that the existence of a
statute prior to a determination of unconstitutionality is an operative
fact and may have consequences which cannot always be ignored.
The past cannot always be erased by a new judicial declaration.
The doctrine is applicable when a declaration of
unconstitutionality will impose an undue burden on those who have
relied on the invalid Law.46
The possibility that the constitutionality of Republic Act No.

9262 may be challenged by male victims of abuse in intimate
relationships ventures to carve another exception if this court is to
ensure the guarantee of fundamental equality before the law of
women and men47 as well as value the dignity of every human
person.48 Applying the general rule or the existing doctrine of
operative facts would mean removing the protection afforded to
women. It will thus contradict the very reason it is being assailed
and result to an even worse state of laws where none is protected
from intimate violence.
But again, it is not in this case that we consider these
possibilities.
_______________
45 Id.
46 Chavez v. Judicial and Bar Council, G.R. No. 202242, July 17, 2012, 676
SCRA 579, 608 citing Planter’s Products Inc. v. Fertiphil Corporation, G.R. No.
166006, March 14, 2008, 548 SCRA 485, 516-517.
506

Garcia vs. Drilon
By concurring with these statements I express a hope: that the

normative constitutional requirements of human dignity and
fundamental equality can become descriptive reality. The socially
constructed distinctions between women and men that have afflicted
us and spawned discrimination and violence should be eradicated
sooner. Power and intimacy should not co-exist.
The intimate spaces created by our human relationships are our
safe havens from the helter skelter of this world. It is in that space
where we grow in the safety of the special other who we hope will
be there for our entire lifetime. If that is not possible, then for such
time as will be sufficient to create cherished memories enough to
last for eternity.
I concur in the ponencia. Against abominable acts, let this law
take its full course.
Petition denied.
Note.—Judge Arcaya-Chua is guilty of gross ignorance of the

law for issuing a Temporary Protection Order (TPO) in favor of
petitioner Albert Chang Tan, since a TPO cannot be issued in favor
of a man against his wife under R.A. No. 9292, known as the Anti-
Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004. (Ocampo
vs. Arcaya-Chua, 619 SCRA 59 [2010])
——o0o——
© Copyright 2019 Central Book Supply, Inc. All rights reserved.

SCRA Garcia V Drilon

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

SCRA Garcia V Drilon

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

SCRA Garcia V Drilon

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

2/28/2019 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED VOLUME 699

G.R. No. 179267. June 25, 2013.*

JESUS C. GARCIA, petitioner, vs. THE HONORABLE RAY

Remedial Law; Civil Procedure; Courts; Family Courts; Family

VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 353

Garcia vs. Drilon

solve the constitutionality of a statute, “this authority being embraced in the

354 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

Garcia vs. Drilon

therein. Finally, a third-party complaint is a claim that a defending party

VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 355

Garcia vs. Drilon

356 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

Garcia vs. Drilon

posed.—Equal protection simply requires that all persons or things similarly

VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 357

Garcia vs. Drilon

358 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

Garcia vs. Drilon

VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 359

Garcia vs. Drilon

phrases like “depriving or threatening to deprive the woman or her child of a

360 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

Garcia vs. Drilon

civil, for every allegation therein.—A protection order is an order issued to

VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 361

Garcia vs. Drilon

vented. It is a constitutional commonplace that the ordinary requirements of

362 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

Garcia vs. Drilon

victim, regardless of ownership of the residence, is virtually a “blank check”

VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 363

Garcia vs. Drilon

ability, by any available Barangay Kagawad, merely orders the perpetrator

364 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

Garcia vs. Drilon

executive department. As we said in Estrada v. Sandiganbayan, 369 SCRA

VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 365

Garcia vs. Drilon

366 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

Garcia vs. Drilon

Remedial Law; Civil Procedure; Multiplicity of Suits; View that the

VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 367

Garcia vs. Drilon

368 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

Garcia vs. Drilon

freedoms are fully enjoyed by everyone.—By constitutional mandate, the

VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 369

Garcia vs. Drilon

370 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

Garcia vs. Drilon

VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 371

Garcia vs. Drilon

372 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

Garcia vs. Drilon

VOL. 699, JUNE 25, 2013 373

Garcia vs. Drilon

374 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED

Garcia vs. Drilon