A David vs Goliath Fight for Justice in Manila

We are raising funds to help pay for the legal defence of our friend Dave and his family who has been victimised by a rich lawyer ex-gf who knows how to play the legal and police system here in the Philippines.

CASE BACKGROUND

This is a criminal case filed in Manila, Philippines by a 46-year-old rich, influential woman lawyer against a 25-year-old poor, under-priveleged man, whom she had a relationship with in the past but can not accept that the relationship is now over. In the Philippines, there is a Republic Act 9262: Anti-violence against Women and their Children Act. Although this Act is well-meaning, aimed at protecting the rights and safety of women and children in abusive relationships, there are cases where it is misused and used to extort from men and blackmail the partner into what the woman wants. This Act gives almost full and absolute right to women to abuse their partner/husband emotionally, financially and physically and still be covered by the law. This is a law that assumes that only men can harm/abuse women in a relationship; and that women don't harm men. Bullying/abuse is not based on gender, it is on who holds the power in the relationship whether a man or a woman.

This particular case is about our friend, Dave and his ex-girlfriend. Dave is 25yo from a poor family who only finished Grade 2 in primary school & has difficulty reading and writing, especially in English. Dave's ex gf is a 46yo lawyer from a family of lawyers. After three years of abuse and oppression from his gf, Dave decided to leave and start a new; only to find out that it wasn't that easy as his ex-gf started a campaign of harassment and manipulation towards him and his family to get Dave back, using her knowledge of the law and her family's influence. The sad part is that because Dave and his family are poor and not well-versed with the law, their rights and the legal processes here in the Philippines, they had all kept quiet and let the ex-gf get away with her threats and harassment - as she always reminded them that she is a lawyer and that she can bend the law to get what she wants.

For over four months, Dave had been hiding from his ex-gf after leaving her, hoping that she would soon tire of her games and move on. Last February, the ex-gf trespassed into Dave's rented flat abused him and scandalised him in front of the neighbours for hours. After this incident, Dave moved again and as a result, had to stop working. But things got worse, when through a common friend the ex-gf found out that Dave would be attending a community meeting. It was in this meeting that the ex-gf turned up, verbally and physically abused Dave, resulting to burst and swollen lips, closed up eyes and bruises on his face.. The ex-gf also inflicted harm on herself and blamed it on Dave. The ex-gf then filed a complaint with the local police under Republic Act 9262, resulting to Dave being incarcerated and facing a criminal case with a long jail sentence. Of course here in the Philippines, when a rich lawyer complained that she was physically abused by a poor man, the police and the court system often take the word of the woman as true without further investigation. Interestingly, while Dave was incarcerated (he is now out on bail), the ex-gf visited him and told him that she would drop the case if Dave agreed to move back in with her. Because Dave did not agree to this, she filed more charges against him..

This is where we need your help. Dave needs very good representation to fight the charges laid against him by his ex-gf. He is up against a family of lawyers and a law here in the Philippines that does not give him any rights, not even self-defence even when the ex-gf had inflicted grievous bodily harm on him. The ex-gf lied on her complaints and, although we have evidence to disprove her claims, we need a good lawyer to present Dave's case. As a matter of example, during Dave's inquest, the ex-gf was represented by her lawyer father and lawyer sister, while he stood on his own as his public defender refused to accompany him in court.

We need your help to help Dave and his family, who had all been victims of the ex-gf 's harassment, have a VOICE.