However, this should not be reason for the high tribunal to declare invalid the law on violence against women and children, Associate Justice Marvic Leonen said.
Leonen, in a concurring opinion with a Supreme Court ruling upholding the constitutionality of Republic Act 9262, said domestic violence is a power and not a gender issue.
"Portraying only women as victims will not always promote gender equality before the law," he said. "In some cases, men as human beings can also become victims."
Leonen cited 3 cases handled by the Quezon City Police District Crime Laboratory wherein men complained of spousal abuse, as well as another study involving abused of 6 Filipino husbands.
"Four out of the six participants admitted that their spouses’ abusive behavior would initially start with verbal attacks and put-downs then would shift to physical abuse as their verbal tussle intensified," he said, quoting the study on abused men.
"The constant threats, in the long term, affected the emotional and psychological well being of the participants," he added.
One of the victims mentioned a "flying monobloc chair" that hit him "right on the nose."
Another said he had to go to a doctor on his own to have his injuries treated.
Another sustained a wide and deep knife wound that needed "some stiches."
"JL had to contend with the long scratches in his chest and back. RE almost lost an eye when he was hit with a straight punch of the spouse. JL, RE, and DL would lie to colleagues to avoid being laughed at. DL had to be absent from his work after being hit by a flying de lata (canned good) thrown at him during a fight," Leonen said.
"Emotional abuse co-existed with verbal and/or physical abuse. The participants who were recipients of physical abuse were also emotionally abused when they became susceptible to stress and threats of the abuser," he added.
Leonen explained that social and cultural expectations on masculinity and male dominance urge men to keep quiet about being a victim.
"This leads to latent depression among boys and men. In a sense, patriarchy while privileging men, also victimizes them," he said.
Leonen, in his concurring opinion on upholding RA 9262, said abused men also need protection under the Constitution and the country's laws.
"We should be open to realities which may challenge the dominant conception that violence in intimate relationships only happens to women and children," he said.
"This may be predominantly true, but even those in marginal cases deserve fundamental constitutional and statutory protection.
Leonen said that cases of men being victims of abuse should not be reason to reject the constitutionality of RA 9262.
Doing so would mean removing the protection afforded to women, he said, adding that it will only result in "an even worse state of laws where none is protected from intimate violence."
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
