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AGG Law Office

Unit 2 Apartment 4 Claveria Business Building


Recto Street, 8000 Davao City
Office Tel. (082) 221.0407
Fax No. (082) 221.0410
Email Address: agg.law.office@gmail.com

September 11, 2018

Ms. Jam V. Sanchez


143 Unit 14 EPL Building
Vinzon Street, 8000 Davao City

RE: Possible defense of a battered wife against the crime of parricide.

Dear Ms. Sanchez:

You requested our legal opinion regarding a possible defense against the crime of
parricide.

You asked about the implications of you committing the crime of parricide against
your abusive husband as Philippine laws are concerned.

A battered woman has been defined as a woman who is repeatedly subjected to any
forceful physical or psychological behavior by a man in order to coerce her to do something
he wants her to do without concern for her rights. Battered women include wives or women
in any form of intimate relationship with men.

Furthermore, the battered woman syndrome is characterized by the so-called


“Cycle of Violence”, which has three phases: (1) the tension-building phase; (2) the acute
battering incident; and (3) the tranquil, loving (or, at least, nonviolent) phase. In order to
be classified as a battered woman, the couple must go through the battering cycle at least
twice. Any woman may find herself in an abusive relationship with a man once. If it occurs
a second time, and she remains in the situation, she is defined as a battered woman.

In your letter, you stated that, whenever your abusive husband would come home
high on shabu, he would beat you until you fainted with the pain. The following day, your
husband would apologize and promise not to do it again, but the cycle repeated multiple
times. Until, he was found dead in your bedroom the day after the last beating.
Section 26 of Republic Act No. 9262 provides that victim-survivors who are found
by the courts to be suffering from battered woman syndrome do not incur any criminal and
civil liability notwithstanding the absence of any of the elements for justifying
circumstances of self-defense under the Revised Penal Code.

As stated, any woman who is repeatedly subjected to any forceful physical or


psychological abuse by any man whom she had an intimate relationship with and is
suffering from a battered woman syndrome does not incur any criminal and civil liability.
We recommend that you claim the defense of a Battered Woman Syndrome to be exempt
from the crime of parricide.

Sincerely yours,

Angelene P. Amar
Legal Counsel

Ellah B. Gaudicos
Legal Counsel

Clariza B. Gaviola
Legal Counsel
REFERENCES

People vs. Genosa (2004). Supreme Court Reports Annotated, volume 419, page 537.

Philippines (2004). Republic Act No. 9292: The Anti-Violence Against Women and
their Children Act of 2004. Metro Manila, Republic of the Philippines.

Reyes, L. B., & Reyes, R. R. (Ed.). (2017). The Revised Penal Code (19th Ed.). Manila,
Philippines: Rex Bookstore

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