Seizing partner’s ATM card abuse – lawmaker

MANILA, Philippines — The act of confiscating the automated teller machine (ATM) card of a partner or spouse is tantamount to economic abuse and should be illegal, according to a proposed measure in the House of Representatives. 

“It becomes economic abuse in the sense that the act of getting his or her ATM card from which he or she draws his salary or livelihood actually deprives him of the right to spend his own money on where or what he wishes to,” Rizal Rep. Fidel Nograles, who filed House Bill 4888, said in a statement yesterday. 

Nograles said HB 4888, the Anti-Violence Against Partners and their Children Act, seeks to amend Republic Act 9262, the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act to cover abused husbands and LGBT partners.  

The principal objective of HB 4888 is to provide “mainstream gender equality” for all, he said. 

“We must recognize that there are also male partners who are victims of abuse, yet are unable to report such incidents because of prejudice,” Nograles wrote in his explanatory note.