Short answer. Yes. The law anticipates this danger. When disclosure of the victim's address will pose danger to her life, it shall be so stated in the application, and you give a mailing address instead. You do not have to reveal where you are hiding to obtain protection.
What the law says
When disclosure of the address of the victim will pose danger to her life, it shall be so stated in the application
RA 9262, Section 11 — How To Apply. Read the full provision →
The law lets you withhold your address
A real fear for many victims is that filing for protection will hand the abuser a map to where they have fled. The law addresses this head-on: When disclosure of the address of the victim will pose danger to her life, it shall be so stated in the application. Instead of writing your actual home address into a document the other side may see, you state in the application that revealing it would endanger you. This is not a loophole to be argued for later — it is a built-in feature of how a protection order application is meant to be filed when safety is at stake.
How the paperwork still works
Withholding your address does not leave the court unable to process the case. In place of your home address, you attest that you reside within the city or municipality over which the court has territorial jurisdiction, and you provide a mailing address for service of documents. That way the court keeps the venue it needs and can still send you papers, while your actual location stays out of the abuser's reach. The system is designed so that protecting your whereabouts and moving the case forward are not in conflict — you can have both at once.
What this protection does and does not cover
This provision shields the address you live at; it is not a blanket cloak over your entire identity or every detail of the case. You still have to describe the abuse and identify the respondent, because the court cannot act against an unnamed person on unstated facts. The address protection is targeted at the single most dangerous piece of information — where you sleep at night. Understanding that limit matters, so you know to raise the safety concern about your address specifically, rather than assuming everything you submit will be hidden from the person you are seeking protection from.
Making the safeguard work in practice
To use this protection well, say clearly in the application that disclosing your address would put your life in danger, and give a reliable mailing address — one the abuser does not control or monitor — so you actually receive the court's notices. If you are staying with relatives or in a shelter, think about which contact point is both safe and dependable. Court staff and barangay officials are directed to help applicants prepare these papers, and a social worker or lawyer can make sure the safety concern is properly stated. The safeguard only helps if you invoke it, so raise it from the start.