Repeated physical violence or grossly abusive conduct, A55(1) Family Code
1. Concept
Child – includes “a child by nature or by adoption” (FAMILY CODE, Last Paragraph, Article 55)
Abusive – means “using harsh, insulting language; harsh and insulting; using or involving physical violence or emotional cruelty” (Merriam-Webster, n.d.. Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abusive [Accessed: 17 April 2025])
Gross – means “glaringly noticeable usually because of inexcusable badness or objectionableness”. (Merriam-Webster, n.d. Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gross [Accessed: 17 April 2025])
2. Repeated physical violence or grossly abusive conduct
Art. 55. A petition for legal separation may be filed on any of the following grounds:
(1) Repeated physical violence or grossly abusive conduct directed against the petitioner, a common child, or a child of the petitioner x x x
x x x
For purposes of this Article, the term “child” shall include a child by nature or by adoption. (9a)
1) Repeated physical violence or grossly abusive conduct directed against the petitioner, a common child, or a child of the petitioner, is a ground for legal separation.
| Grounds | Committed Against |
| (1) Repeated physical violence, or (2) grossly abusive conduct | Petitioner-Spouse |
| Common Child | |
| Petitioner’s Child |
1) [This] ground allows a spouse to request legal separation if they—or their child—have been subjected to ongoing physical harm or extremely cruel behavior by the other spouse. It’s not just about a single act of violence or insult, but a continuous pattern that seriously affects their safety, dignity, or mental health. (OpenAI ChatGPT-4 [2025], reviewed by J. Del Puerto. Available at: https://chat.openai.com [Accessed: 17 April 2025])
a. Repeated physical violence
1) For repeated physical violence, the respondent-spouse commits such act not just once, but more than once.
2) If one spouse keeps hurting the other physically, like through hitting, slapping, or any kind of bodily assault, that’s considered repeated physical violence. It also applies when the harmful behavior is not physical but still deeply damaging—such as extreme verbal abuse, humiliation in front of others, or controlling behavior that isolates the victim. This abuse can be aimed at the spouse or their children, whether or not the child is biologically related to the abusive partner. (OpenAI ChatGPT-4 [2025], (OpenAI ChatGPT-4, reviewed by J. Del Puerto, 2025, supra.)
b. Grossly abusive conduct
1) For grossly abusive conduct, it is submitted that the respondent-spouse may commit one single act that is grossly abusive since it is not qualified by “repeated” unlike physical violence. As to what may constitute “grossly abusive conduct” will be on a case-to-case basis and upon the determination of a court.
Ong Eng Kiam v. Ong, G.R. No. 153206, 23 October 2006, Per Austria-Martinez, J.:
• On March 21, 1996, Lucita filed a Complaint for Legal Separation under Article 55 par. (1) of the Family Code4 before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Dagupan City, Branch 41 alleging that her life with William was marked by physical violence, threats, intimidation and grossly abusive conduct.5
• Lucita claimed that: soon after three years of marriage, she and William quarreled almost every day, with physical violence being inflicted upon her; William would shout invectives at her like “putang ina mo“, “gago“, “tanga“, and he would slap her, kick her, pull her hair, bang her head against concrete wall and throw at her whatever he could reach with his hand; the causes of these fights were petty things regarding their children or their business; William would also scold and beat the children at different parts of their bodies using the buckle of his belt; whenever she tried to stop William from hitting the children, he would turn his ire on her and box her; on December 9, 1995, after she protested with William’s decision to allow their eldest son Kingston to go to Bacolod, William slapped her and said, “it is none of your business”; on December 14, 1995, she asked William to bring Kingston back from Bacolod; a violent quarrel ensued and William hit her on her head, left cheek, eye, stomach, and arms; when William hit her on the stomach and she bent down because of the pain, he hit her on the head then pointed a gun at her and asked her to leave the house; she then went to her sister’s house in Binondo where she was fetched by her other siblings and brought to their parents house in Dagupan; the following day, she went to her parent’s doctor, Dr. Vicente Elinzano for treatment of her injuries.
• [Held: Legal separation was valid.] As correctly observed by the trial court, William himself admitted that there was no day that he did not quarrel with his wife, which made his life miserable, and he blames her for being negligent of her wifely duties and for not reporting to him the wrongdoings of their children
• Lucita and her sister, Linda Lim, also gave numerous accounts of the instances when William displayed violent temper against Lucita and their children; such as: when William threw a steel chair at Lucita; threw chairs at their children; slapped Lucita and utter insulting words at her; use the buckle of the belt in whipping the children; pinned Lucita against the wall with his strong arms almost strangling her, and smashed the flower vase and brick rocks and moldings leaving the bedroom in disarray; shouted at Lucita and threw a directory at her, in front of Linda and the employees of their business, because he could not find a draft letter on his table; got mad at Charleston for cooking steak with vetchin prompting William to smash the plate with steak and hit Charleston, then slapped Lucita and shouted at her “putang ina mo, gago, wala kang pakialam, tarantado” when she sided with Charleston; and the December 9 and December 14, 1995 incidents which forced Lucita to leave the conjugal dwelling.
• As Lucita has adequately proven the presence of a ground for legal separation, the Court has no reason but to affirm the findings of the RTC and the CA, and grant her the relief she is entitled to under the law.
3. Examples in real-life situations:
Example 1 – Physical abuse toward the spouse:
Anna’s husband, Leo, has slapped her several times over the course of a year during arguments. Despite her attempts to reconcile, the physical aggression continues. She can file for legal separation under this ground because the violence is repeated and directed at her. (OpenAI ChatGPT-4, 2025, supra.)
Example 2 – Abuse against a shared child:
Marco regularly kicks and punches his and Carla’s teenage son when he performs poorly in school. Carla, seeing her child in danger and emotionally broken, may use this ground to file for legal separation, even if Marco never laid a hand on her. (Ibid.)
Example 3 – Abuse toward a child from a previous relationship:
Bea has a daughter from a past relationship. Her husband, Ron, often calls the child worthless, locks her in her room, and denies her meals as punishment. Even though Ron is not the biological father, Bea can seek legal separation based on his cruel treatment of her child. (Ibid.)
