Get a brgy protection order vs. abusive husband, bf

In the International front, the women's struggle for equality has had successes. The United States Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirmed the equality of all human beings. In 1979, the UN General Assembly adopted the landmark Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). In 1993, the UN General Assembly also adopted the Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women. World conferences on the role and rights of women have been regularly held in Mexico City, Copenhagen, Nairobi and Beijing. The UN itself established a Commission on the Status of Women.

The Philippines has been in cadence with the half – and full – steps of all these women's movements. No less than Section 14, Article II of our 1987 Constitution mandates the State to recognize the role of women in nation building and to ensure the fundamental equality before the law of women and men. Our Senate has ratified the CEDAW as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its two protocols. To cap it all, Congress, on March 8, 2004, enacted Republic Act (RA) No. 9262, entitled "An Act Defining Violence Against Women and Their Children (VAWC), Providing for Protective Measures for Victims, Prescribing Penalties therefor and for other Purposes." (G.R. No. 179267. June 25, 2013)

Section 14 of RA 9262 gives the Punong Barangay (also known as Barangay Captain) the power to issue Barangay Protection Orders (BPOs). 

BPOs refer to the protection order issued by the Punong Barangay ordering the perpetrator to desist from committing acts under Section 5 (a) and (b) of RA 9262. Such acts are those:

[1] Causing physical harm to the woman or her child; or
[2] Threatening to cause the woman or her child physical harm.

The victim may go to the Barangay and file an application for BPO. The Punong Barangay who receives applications for a BPO shall issue the protection order to the applicant on the date of filing after ex parte determination of the basis of the application. "Ex parte" means that the offender (abusive husband, boyfriend, girlfriend, sexual or dating partner, ex-husband, ex-boyfriend, ex-girlfriend, previous sexual partner or previous dating partner) need not be heard by the Punong Barangay. The BPO must be issued on the date of filing (within the day).If the Punong Barangay is unavailable to act on the application for a BPO, the application shall be acted upon by any available Barangay Kagawad. If the BPO is issued by a Barangay Kagawad, the order must be accompanied by an attestation by the Barangay Kagawad that the Punong Barangay was unavailable at the time of the issuance of the BPO.

BPOs shall be effective for fifteen (15) days. Immediately after the issuance of an ex parte BPO, the Punong Barangay or Barangay Kagawad shall personally serve a copy of the same on the respondent, or direct any barangay official to effect its personal service.

The parties may be accompanied by a non-lawyer advocate in any proceeding before the Punong Barangay.

The power of the Punong Barangay to issue BPOs is purely executive in nature, in pursuance of his duty under the Local Government Code (RA 7160) to "enforce all laws and ordinances," and to "maintain public order in the barangay." The Punong Barangay must determine reasonable ground to believe that an imminent danger of violence against the woman and her children exists or is about to recur that would necessitate the issuance of a BPO. (G.R. No. 179267. June 25, 2013)

Many victims of domestic violence remain with their abusers, perhaps because they perceive no superior alternative. Many abused women who find temporary refuge in shelters return to their husbands, in large part because they have no other source of income. Returning to one's abuser can be dangerous. Recent Federal Bureau of Investigation statistics disclose that 8.8 percent of all homicide victims in the United States are killed by their spouses. Thirty percent of female homicide victims are killed by their male partners. (G.R. No. 179267. June 25, 2013)