Physical or Sexual Violence as Additional Grounds for Annulment of Marriage

A lawmaker has filed a bill, which seeks to amend the Family Code of the Philippines by including marital rape as additional ground for the annulment of marriage.

Rep. Roman T. Romulo (Lone District, Pasig City) said House Bill 6297 would give victims of abusive marriages the chance to escape domestic violence to genuinely start anew.

“This is more in line with the spirit of the State’s mandate of according full protection to women, while at the same time ensuring that violence has no place in any family thereby maintaining the sanctity of the Filipino family,” Romulo said.

Romulo expressed his concern over incidents of battery and sexual abuse against women, which seem to be continuously increasing, many of which are reportedly committed inside the family home.

Romulo, chairman of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education, said only a few complaints for violence inside the conjugal dwelling were filed in courts because of fear of the trauma they might cause their children after seeing their mothers send their fathers to jail or basically because of their financial dependency on their husbands.

He said when a marriage has been severely damaged by the infliction of either physical or sexual violence; the full potential development of the wife as well as the children is already impeded.

“If filing of criminal cases against their partners is not an option, they must at least be given a way out that will enable them to start over with their lives and more importantly be assured of their safety,” Romulo said.

Under the bill, physical violence refers to any act or series of acts committed against the spouse or child that include bodily or physical harm.

On the other hand, sexual violence refers to an act, which is sexual in nature, committed against the spouse or child, but is not limited to rape, sexual harassment, acts of lasciviousness, treating as a sex object.

Sexual violence also refers to making demeaning or sexually suggestive remarks, physically attacking the sexual parts of the body, forcing him/her to do indecent acts and/make films thereof, forcing the other spouse and lover to live in the conjugal home or sleep together in the same room.

“Acts causing or attempting to cause the spouse or child to engage in sexual activity by force, threat of force, physical or other harm or threat of physical harm or coercion as well as prostituting the wife or child are considered sexual violence under the measure,” Romulo said.

Romulo said in addition, the provision for support for the innocent spouse and their children, as well as the forfeiture of the fruits of the absolute community or conjugal partnership in favor of the innocent spouse shall eliminate or at least minimize the propensity to remain in an abusive marriage because of economic reasons.

The bill has been referred to the Committee on Revision of Laws chaired by Rep. Marlyn L. Primicias-Agabas (6th District, Pangasinan).

Source: www.congress.gov.ph