"Ander de saya" husbands, rejoice.

PBA Party-list Rep. Margarita “Migs” Nograles has filed a bill that seeks to expand Republic Act (RA) 9262 otherwise known as the Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act so it may cover the male equivalent of battered and abused wives.

“Ander de saya” is a term used for henpecked husbands who are also victims of domestic abuse.

Nograles's proposal is embodied in House Bill (HB) 1365, which, if enacted, would be known as Domestic Violence Act of 2022.

Aside from battered husbands, the neophyte solon's bill will also give protection to members of the LGBTQ+ community who are also victims of domestic abuse and maltreatment.

In filing HB 1365, Nograles argued that domestic abuse is not an exclusive problem of women and children because there are also many cases where the victims are men who are either husbands or are gay partners.

In the bill, the lady lawmaker wants to insert in RA 9262 the gender-neutral word “partner” to include men and members of the LGBTQI+  aside from the words “women” and “children.”

Nograles, the youngest daughter of the late former House Speaker Prospero Nograles, said she intends to "put an end to the discrimination and domestic abuse and attain a more inclusive society where all human beings are born free and equal" via her measure.

Her bill states that the term “partner” includes intimate relationships of husband, men, heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and the like.

"Violence against women, PARTNERS, and their children" refers to any act or a series of acts committed by any person, their spouse, former spouse, PARTNER, FORMER PARTNER, or against any other person with whom they have or had a sexual or dating relationship, or who they have a common child, or against the other person’s child whether legitimate or illegitimate, within or without the family abode, which results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological harm or suffering, or economic abuse including threats of such acts, battery, assault, coercion, harassment or arbitrary deprivation of liberty,” the bill stated in amending Section 3.a of RA 9262, with the emphasis on the inserted words coming from Nograles.

She said it is very important that laws against domestic violence should be designed to protect the interest and the welfare of everyone, regardless of one’s gender or gender preference.