Oo, sa ilang mga kaso. Nakasaad sa Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act (VAWC) na:
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:
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(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 to 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:
xxx(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;
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(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 or denial of access to the woman’s child/children.”
VAWC Section 5(e)
Ang pananagutang kriminal sa paglabag ng Section 5 (e) ay naisasama kapag inalisan ng akusado ang babae ng sustentong pinansiyal na karapatan niyang makuha sa ilalim ng batas. “Deprivation or denial of support, by itself, is already specifically penalized therein.”
“Economic abuse is not only the absolute refusal to provide financial support, but also the act of ‘deliberately providing the woman’s children insufficient financial support[.]’ Thus, the financial support must be sufficient to meet the needs of the woman and her child, considering the resources and means of the one obliged to provide.”
VAWC Section 5(i)
Sa ilalim naman ng Section 5 (i), kailangang patunayan ang mga sumusunod na elemento para mapapanagot ang akusado:
- The offended party is a woman and/or her child or children;
- The woman is either the wife or former wife of the offender, or is a woman with whom the offender has or had a sexual or dating relationship, or is a woman with whom such offender has a common child. As for the woman’s child or children, they may be legitimate or illegitimate, or living within or without the family abode;
- The offender willfully refuses to give or consciously denies the woman and/or her child or children financial support that is legally due her and/or her child or children; and
- The offender denied the woman and/or her child or children the financial support for the purpose of causing the woman and/or her child or children mental or emotional anguish.”