The Supreme Court (SC) said trial courts can issue a temporary protection order (TPO) in cases involving violence against women and children even without a notice and hearing (ex parte).
In a decision penned by Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, the SC stressed that a TPO is issued by courts “to prevent further acts of violence against women and their children, their family or household members, and to grant other necessary reliefs.”
The high court explained that the purpose “is to safeguard the offended parties from further harm, minimize any disruption in their daily life and facilitate the opportunity and ability to regain control of their lives.”
The high tribunal reiterated its previous ruling that “the scope of reliefs in protection orders is broadened to ensure that the victim or offended party is afforded all the remedies necessary to curtail access by a perpetrator to the victim. This serves to safeguard the victim from greater risk of violence; to accord the victim and any designated family or household member safety in the family residence, and to prevent the perpetrator from committing acts that jeopardize the employment and support of the victim.”
The SC said the order “also enables the court to award temporary custody of minor children to protect the children from violence, to prevent their abduction by the perpetrator and to ensure their financial support.”
Since “time is of the essence” in cases involving violence against women and children, “the court is authorized to issue ex parte a TPO after raffle but before notice and hearing when the life, limb or property of the victim is in jeopardy and there is reasonable ground to believe that the order is necessary to protect the victim from the immediate and imminent danger of VAWC or to prevent such violence, which is about to recur,” the high court pointed out.
The SC downplayed fears that the judge may have no rational basis to issue an ex-parte order. “The victim is required not only to verify the allegations in the petition, but also to attach her witnesses’ affidavits to the petition,” it said.
The high court said that “it is a constitutional commonplace that the ordinary requirements of procedural due process must yield to the necessities of protecting vital public interests, among which is protection of women and children from violence and threats to their personal safety and security.”
The SC also reminded trial courts that when a TPO is issued ex parte, the court should also order that notice be immediately given to the respondent. or the person named in the complaint, directing him to file an opposition within five (5) days from service.
The court should also order that notice, copies of the petition and TPO be served immediately on the respondent by the court sheriffs. The TPOs are initially effective for thirty (30) days from service on the respondent.”
The SC was acting on the petition of a businessman who has been a long-time partner of a woman with whom he has three children. The second daughter died when she was eight years old.