Overview

Yes. Economic abuse is expressly recognized as a form of “violence against women and their children” (VAWC) under Philippine law, primarily under Republic Act No. 9262 (RA 9262), the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004. In the Philippine framework, VAWC is not limited to physical harm; it also includes sexual, psychological, and economic forms of abuse. Economic abuse is treated as violence because it can be used to control, trap, punish, or intimidate a woman (and her children) by manipulating access to money, property, work, and support.

This article explains what “economic abuse” means under RA 9262, what acts typically fall under it, how it is proven, what remedies are available, and how it intersects with other family and criminal laws.

Important note: This is general legal information in the Philippine context, not legal advice. If you have a specific case, consult a Philippine lawyer or seek help from the Barangay VAW Desk, PAO (Public Attorney’s Office), PNP Women and Children Protection Desk/WCPC, DSWD, or a local women’s rights organization.

The Legal Basis: RA 9262 (Anti-VAWC Act of 2004)

What RA 9262 Protects

RA 9262 addresses violence committed against:

Women (as victims), and
Their children (who may be direct victims, or harmed as part of violence against the mother).

“Children” under the law is broadly understood to include minors and, in certain situations, children who are unable to care for themselves due to disability—regardless of legitimacy (e.g., legitimate, illegitimate, adopted, stepchildren, etc., depending on circumstances).

Who Can Be Held Liable

RA 9262 generally applies when the offender is a person who has or had a specified relationship with the woman, such as:

Spouse or former spouse
A person with whom the woman has or had a dating relationship
A person with whom the woman has or had a sexual relationship
In many practical scenarios: live-in partners, boyfriends/ex-boyfriends, fathers of children, and husbands.

This relationship element is crucial: RA 9262 is designed to address violence in intimate, domestic, or similar relational settings.

Economic Abuse as VAWC: The Core Concept

RA 9262’s Recognition of Economic Abuse

RA 9262 explicitly includes economic abuse as a form of violence. The law treats economic abuse as violence because the abuser can use financial control to:

Make the woman dependent
Reduce her ability to leave
Punish her through deprivation
Create fear, instability, and compliance through financial threat

How the Law Defines Economic Abuse (Practical Meaning)

In substance, RA 9262 treats economic abuse as acts that make or attempt to make the woman financially dependent, including (commonly recognized examples):

Withholding or withdrawing financial support
- Refusing to provide support that is legally or morally due (especially when the partner has the capacity).
- Cutting off money for basic needs (food, rent, utilities, medicines, schooling) to force obedience or punish.
Preventing or interfering with employment or livelihood
- Banning the woman from working or running a business.
- Sabotaging her job (showing up at workplace to harass, breaking her phone so she can’t work, forcing repeated absences).
- Coercing her to quit.
Philippine nuance: The Family Code recognizes that spouses owe mutual support and certain marital obligations; in limited situations, a spouse may object to the other spouse’s employment on serious and moral grounds—but this is narrow and not a free pass to control or isolate.
Controlling access to money, bank accounts, or salary
- Taking the woman’s ATM card or controlling online banking passwords.
- Confiscating her wages.
- Forcing her to ask permission for every expense.
- “Allowance-only” arrangements used as control, paired with threats or surveillance.
Controlling or depriving the woman of property or the use/enjoyment of property
- Preventing her from using conjugal/community property, vehicles, or the family home as a form of coercion.
- Threatening to dispossess her from property she has rights to use.
Destroying property or causing financial harm
- Damaging household property, work tools, gadgets used for livelihood.
- Destroying personal documents needed for work or finances (IDs, passports, licenses).
Depriving the children of support or resources as punishment
- Using children’s needs as leverage: “I won’t pay tuition unless you come back.”
- Deliberately providing insufficient support despite capacity, to cause distress or force compliance.

Key idea: The act can be a single serious incident or part of a pattern. What matters is the abusive purpose or effect—economic control used to harm, intimidate, or restrict autonomy.

Is “Non-Support” Automatically VAWC?

Not every failure to provide support becomes a VAWC case. Courts generally look at context, including:

Ability to provide support (capacity, income, resources)
Intent and pattern (is it used to punish/control?)
Impact on the woman/child (harm, fear, deprivation, emotional distress)
Relationship and circumstances (cohabitation history, separation, abandonment, threats)

A person who genuinely cannot pay may raise that as a factual defense, but willful refusal despite capacity—especially paired with harassment, humiliation, threats, or manipulation—often fits the framework of economic abuse and may also support psychological violence (because deprivation can cause mental/emotional suffering).

Economic Abuse vs. Ordinary Financial Disagreements

A common misconception is that RA 9262 criminalizes normal couple disputes about budgeting. It does not.

Usually NOT economic abuse

Ordinary disagreement about expenses
Mutual decision to tighten budget due to genuine financial hardship
Good-faith prioritization of necessities over wants
Financial control that is consensual and non-coercive (e.g., one partner manages funds with transparency and agreement)

More likely economic abuse

Money rules enforced through fear, threats, humiliation, monitoring, coercion
Deliberate deprivation to punish or trap
Control that prevents the woman from meeting basic needs or escaping the relationship

Economic Abuse Against “Women and Their Children” (VAWC)

RA 9262 protects not only the woman but also her children, who may suffer directly through:

Deprivation of school expenses, food, medical care
Housing insecurity due to withheld support
Being used as bargaining tools (“I will stop paying unless…”)
Witnessing coercive control and financial punishment directed at the mother

Even if the child is not physically harmed, the law recognizes that children can be harmed by the economic violence inflicted on the mother and the household.

How Economic Abuse Is Addressed: Criminal Liability and Protection Orders

RA 9262 offers two major tracks that can be used together:

Protection orders (urgent, preventive, practical relief)
Criminal prosecution (penal consequences)

1) Protection Orders (Immediate Safety + Economic Relief)

Protection orders are among the most powerful tools in RA 9262 because they can include financial and property-related relief, such as:

Ordering the respondent to provide support (for the woman and/or children)
Preventing the respondent from withdrawing support or disposing assets to evade obligations
Directing the respondent to stay away from the victim (reducing harassment that affects work)
Granting the woman use of the family home or certain property needed for daily life
Prohibiting the respondent from controlling or restricting the victim’s access to money/property
Temporary custody arrangements and conditions that stabilize finances for children

There are typically different kinds of protection orders with different issuing authorities and timelines (e.g., barangay-issued orders for immediate relief; court-issued temporary and permanent protection orders for broader relief). Protection orders are designed to be accessible and fast relative to full criminal trials.

Violating a protection order is itself a serious offense.

2) Criminal Case Under RA 9262

A criminal complaint may be filed when the abusive acts fall under the punishable acts defined in the law. Economic abuse is punishable when the conduct fits the law’s definition and elements. Depending on the nature of the act, cases may overlap with psychological violence (if the deprivation is shown to cause mental or emotional suffering) and with other offenses.

Elements Typically Considered (What Must Be Shown)

While specifics depend on the exact act charged, economic abuse cases commonly require proof of:

Relationship covered by RA 9262
- Husband/ex-husband, boyfriend/ex-boyfriend, dating/sexual relationship, etc.
The abusive economic act
- Withholding support, controlling money, preventing work, depriving use of property, destroying property, etc.
Purpose/effect of control or harm
- Used to make the woman dependent, punish, intimidate, restrict autonomy, or deprive necessities.
Resulting harm or risk
- Actual deprivation, fear, instability, forced dependence, inability to provide for children, emotional distress (especially if psychological violence is also alleged).

Evidence Commonly Used in Economic Abuse Cases

Economic abuse often leaves “paper trails.” Useful evidence may include:

Proof of income/resources (pay slips, business records, bank statements, SSS/GSIS contributions, remittance history)
Proof of support demands and refusal (messages, emails, letters)
Proof of employment sabotage or restriction (workplace reports, HR notices, witness statements)
Proof of control (confiscated ATM, forced password changes, monitoring screenshots)
Proof of deprivation impact (unpaid bills, disconnection notices, school notices, medical records)
Proof of property destruction (photos, repair receipts, barangay blotter, affidavits)

For protection orders, sworn statements and credible supporting documents can be enough to obtain immediate relief; criminal conviction requires a higher standard.

Interaction With Other Philippine Laws

Economic abuse under RA 9262 frequently overlaps with or is related to:

Family Code (Support and Property Regimes)

Spouses (and parents) have obligations of support
Property regimes (absolute community/conjugal partnership/separation) affect rights to use property and to share resources
RA 9262 protection orders can provide interim relief while family cases proceed

Other possible criminal angles (depending on facts)

Property damage offenses
Fraud-related offenses if deception is involved
Threats, coercion, harassment, and other crimes when paired with economic control

RA 9262 does not erase other remedies; it is often used alongside support petitions, custody disputes, annulment/legal separation issues, and property cases.

Common Real-World Scenarios That May Qualify as Economic Abuse (Philippine Context)

A husband refuses to give money for food and tuition, despite stable income, to force the wife to stop “complaining.”
A live-in partner takes the woman’s salary and gives a minimal “allowance,” threatening violence or abandonment if she resists.
A boyfriend/ex-boyfriend threatens to stop child support unless the woman returns to the relationship.
A spouse destroys the woman’s phone/laptop used for online work, so she cannot earn.
A partner prevents the woman from working by locking her in, stalking her workplace, or harassing her employer.
A spouse sells or hides shared property or drains accounts to leave the woman financially helpless.

Defenses and Complications

Economic abuse cases can be fact-sensitive. Common defenses/complications include:

No covered relationship under RA 9262 (a threshold issue)
Inability to provide support (lack of income/resources)
Good-faith dispute over amount of support or shared expenses
Mutual financial arrangements (consensual setup without coercion)
Lack of proof tying deprivation to abusive intent or control

These issues are why documentation and consistent reporting (barangay blotter, affidavits, records) often matter.

Practical Steps if Someone Is Experiencing Economic Abuse

Prioritize safety (economic abuse can escalate into physical violence).
Document everything: messages, receipts, bank activity, threats, workplace incidents.
Seek a protection order if control/deprivation is ongoing.
Report to the proper offices:
- Barangay VAW Desk (for initial assistance and certain immediate remedies)
- PNP Women and Children Protection Desk/WCPC
- City/Provincial Prosecutor (for filing criminal complaints)
Consider parallel family remedies: support petitions, custody, property protection.

Bottom Line

Under Philippine law, economic abuse is considered VAWC. RA 9262 recognizes that depriving a woman (and her children) of financial resources, controlling money/property, and restricting livelihood are not merely “family problems” or “private money issues”—they are forms of violence when used as tools of coercion, punishment, and control. The law provides both protective remedies (especially protection orders with financial relief) and criminal accountability when the conduct meets the legal definitions and elements.

If you want, tell me a concrete example scenario (without names) and I can map it to the likely RA 9262 category (economic abuse alone vs. economic + psychological violence), the strongest evidence to gather, and the most practical remedy path.