40 Ang vs. CA Et Al., 618 SCRA 592 April 20, 2010
40 Ang vs. CA Et Al., 618 SCRA 592 April 20, 2010
40 Ang vs. CA Et Al., 618 SCRA 592 April 20, 2010
FACTS: Irish and Rustan were classmates at Wesleyan University in Aurora Province. Rustan
courted Irish and they became on-and-off sweethearts. Irish learned that Rustan had taken a
live-in partner, whom he had gotten pregnant, Irish broke up with him. Rustan, still got in touch
with Irish and tried to convince her to elope , Irish rejected, later on, received through
multimedia message service (MMS) a picture of a naked woman with spread legs and with
Irish’s face on the figure. It was Rustan who sent these.After she got the obscene picture, Irish
got other text messages of Rustan boasting that it would be easy for him to create scandalous
pictures of her. He threatened to spread the picture through the internet. Irish filed a case of
violation of R.A. No. 9262 against Rustan. Rustan argued that he cannot be held liable under
ISSUE: Whether “dating relationship” exist even without sexual intercours and Whether the on
and off relationship (away-bati) of Irish and Rustan can be consIdered as “dating relationship”
as contemplated by law.
RULING: The elements of the crime of violence against women through harassment under R.A.
No. 9262 are: 1. The offender has or had a sexual or dating relationship with the offended
woman; 2. The offender, by himself or through another, commits an act or series of acts of
harassment against the woman; and 3. The harassment alarms or causes substantial emotional
or psychological distress to her. b) The dating relationship that the law contemplates can exist
even without a sexual intercourse taking place between those involved. c) An away-bati or a
fight-and-kiss thing between two lovers is a common occurrence. Their taking place does not
mean that that romantic relation between the two should be deemed broken up during periods
of misunderstanding.