While some may raise eyebrows on this new law a solon pushes for, this might call for a celebration for Filipino husbands, especially to those whose automated teller machine (ATM) card seemed to be forever in possession of their wives.
With this bill, confiscating your husband's or partner's ATM is considerably tantamount to economic abuse thus illegal, according to Rizal Rep. Fidel Nograles who filed the House Bill 4888 at the House of Representatives.
“It becomes economic abuse in the sense that the act of getting his or her ATM card from which he or she draws his salary or livelihood actually deprives him of the right to spend his own money on where or what he wishes to,” he said.
The bill also proposes to consider as psychological violence the use of any forms of information communication technology that would cause mental, emotional, or psychological distress or suffering to the partners and their children.
These include "stalking, including hacking of personal accounts on social media and the use of location data from electronic devices, fabrication of fake information or news through text messages or other cyber, electronic, or multimedia technology."
"This bill shall prohibit all forms of violence against partners and their children, in private and public life, and provides maximum protection and effective remedies for victims and punishment of offenders," said Nograles in his explanatory note for HB 4888.
Nograles said its principal objective is to provide “mainstream gender equality” for all.
“We must recognize that there are also male partners who are victims of abuse, yet are unable to report such incidents because of prejudice,” he said in a statement.
