Two bills on domestic violence

first: for the protection of women in INTIMATE RELATIONS ONLY Second: Anti-Domestic Violence Bill, for the protection to BOTH MEN AND WOMEN who are victims of domestic violence as well as household member

Legislative History

 Senate President Franklin Drilon and the National Commission on the Role of Filipino Women and other womens rights groups
Expedited its passage during the 13th congress

Legislative History

 Battered Woman Syndrome (BWS)

A provision that was written in the substitute Senate Bill substitute---it did not appear in the two bills on domestic violence BWS was included in RA 9262 upon the direction of Senator Luisa Estrada who is a psychiatrist

Legislative History

Battered Woman Syndrome Defined

World Health Organization

The development of characteristic PHYSICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, and SOCIAL ABNORMALITIES and symptoms, such as DEPRESSION, LOW SELF ESTEEM and ISOLATION, which follow the direct PERSONAL EXPERIENCE of a series of violent acts by an INTIMATE PARTNER.

Battered Woman Syndrome Defined

Sec. 3, RA 9262

It covers ALL FORMS OF ABUSE (physical, emotional, psychological, verbal) for as long as these result to a PATTERN of PSYCHOLOGICAL and BEHAVIORAL SYMPTOMS. SCIENTIFICALLY defined pattern of psychological and behavioral symptoms found in WOMEN LIVING IN BATTERING RELATIONSHIPS as a result of cumulative abuse.

Battered Woman Syndrome Defined

People vs Genosa

Supreme court defined battered woman in BWS as: A woman who is REPEATEDLY subjected to any forceful physical or psychological behaviour by a man in order to coerce her to do something he wants her to do without concern for her rights. The Court further said that 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.

Battered Woman Personality Traits

low self-esteem traditional beliefs about the home, the family and the female sex role emotional dependence upon the dominant male the tendency to accept responsibility for the batterers actions and false hopes that the relationship will improve.

First: Second: Third:

Post-traumatic stress disorder and NOT a mental disorder BWS is a manifestation of LEARNED HELPLESSNESS Battering relationship undergoes a THREE-PHASE CYCLE

Important Principles of BWS (Dr. Leonor E. Walker)

 Tension-building phase

The acute battering incident

The TRANQUIL, LOVING (or at least, nonviolent) phase

The understanding of this theory is crucial in the application of BWS as a legal defense

Three-phase cycle

TENSION-BUILDING PHASE
Gradual escalation of tension displayed by discreet acts causing increased friction
Name-calling Slight Physical abuse NOTE: The batterer is hostile but not in an extreme manner, while the woman attempts to pacify the batterer

THE ACUTE BATTERING INCIDENT

The tension escalates until the woman is unable to control the batterers angry response pattern and the woman withdraws emotionally (It is futile to fight back)
- Actual physical abuse occurs

THE TRANQUIL, LOVING (OR AT LEAST, NONVIOLENT) PHASE

Acute battering ends The batterer may apologize profusely, try to assist the victim, show kindness and remorse, and shower her gifts and/or promises The battered woman also tries to convince herself that the battery will never happen again; that her partner will change for the better; and that this good, gentle and caring man is the real person whom she loves. UNTIL a second round of cycle commences again once the woman lets herself be vulnerable

TENSION, VIOLENCE AND FORGIVENESS

The ILLUSION of absolute interdependency is wellentrenched in a battered womans psyche. In this phase, she and her batterer are indeed EMOTIONALLY DEPENDENT on each other -- she for his nurturant behavior, he for her forgiveness. Underneath this miserable cycle of tension, violence and forgiveness, each partner may believe THAT IT IS BETTER TO DIE THAN TO BE SEPARATED. Neither one may really feel independent, capable of functioning without the other.

 1950: People v Canja

Convicted of parricide The court did not appreciate the defense of the wife: Cruelty of the husband is not a justification to take away his life

In 2000, in the case of People v Genosa, BWS was only used a mitigating circumstance that reduces the penalty since it preceded the enactment of RA 9262 But what the RA 9262 contests is that BWS should be used as a justifying circumstance and NOT a mitigating circumstance

Philippine Jurisprudence

People vs Genosa

First convicted with parricide SC: Reduced her sentence from 14 years to six years after finding two mitigating circumstances Article 13 (9), RPC
An illness which diminished the exercise of will-power of the offender without, however, depriving him of the consciousness of his/her acts

Why BWS was Majority adhered to the legal framework of self-defense not fully and need for unlawful appreciated aggression in the case of RA 9262 took effect after the Genosa case was decided
Genosa was said to have been suffering from physiological illness under Article 13

Self-defense Legal framework of self-defense and

the need for unlawful aggression
The woman can be aware of what she is doing when she executes the fatal act RA 9262 provides that BWS is a justifying circumstance nothwithstanding that any of the elements of self-defense is lacking HENCE, if you apply the self-defense rule in BWS, the woman will not be acquitted due to absence of unlawful aggression

Self-defense rule
Note that imminent is different in BWS cases, wherein it is possible due to the history of abusive or violent acts by the batterer that the woman merely expects an attack that will put her life or those of her loved ones in peril. When a woman has BWS, the reasonableness of her act should be viewed within the context of the history of abuse, and her mental state at the time of the commission of the crime, which explains the seriousness of her PERCEIVED THREAT TO HER LIFE.

Self-defense rule vs BWS

From her history of abuse, the judge and prosecutor can appreciate the womans perception of the threat to her or her loved ones life as serious, imminent, continuing, and that there is NO OTHER WAY FOR HER TO SURVIVE BUT TO STRIKE BACK UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH SECURES HER SAFETY e.g. hitting the batterer with a lead pipe while he is asleep due to intoxication.

Why as justifying It will be restrictive on the abuses and not mitigating suffered by women circumstance? Exacerbates stereotypes among
women being irrational and helpless It is necessary and indispensable for the court to find out about the state of mind of the accused woman at the time of the commission of the crime to ensure that conviction is based beyond reasonable doubt

To reiterate, in BWS, the SYNDROME is the justifying circumstance. The womans act should not be judged under the rule on self-defense. Neither should BWS be viewed as insanity, which is an exempting circumstance under the Revised Penal Code.

The framework of gender bias is useful as a mode of case analysis that must be CAREFULLY APPLIED to the facts of each individual case. Lawyers must also understand and appreciate the framework of inequality that shapes these cases because, as Schneider wrote, the law has been developed with a male norm in mind, and because stereotypes about women, and about battered women in particular, persist in the minds of judges, juries, and lawyers themselves, lawyers need to be critical about their own assumptions, to seek assistance from experts in the field, and to be able to recognize and point out gender bias in the law where it occurs.

Thank You!

Sources: Legal Framework of Battered Woman Syndrome as a Defense - Ma. Rowena Amelia V. Guanzon - SaveOurWomen,Inc.