Short answer. Yes. A lawyer, counsellor, therapist or healthcare provider of the petitioner is a category of applicant in its own right. Because they are not the offended party, the application must be accompanied by their affidavit on the circumstances of the abuse and on your consent to the filing.
What the law says
(g) lawyer, counselor, therapist or healthcare provider of the petitioner
RA 9262, Section 9 — Who May File. Read the full provision →
What the law says
automatically provide the victim free of charge a medical certificate concerning the examination or visit
RA 9262, Section 31 — Healthcare Provider Response. Read the full provision →
The clause turns on an existing professional relationship
It reads of the petitioner, so the person contemplated is one you already deal with — the doctor you actually see, the counsellor or therapist you are actually under, your own lawyer. It is not a route by which any clinician who hears about your situation acquires standing. Where the relationship does exist, the category stands on its own: your professional does not need a relative's agreement, and does not need a social worker or the police to have gone first.
What a healthcare provider must do even if nothing is filed
The Act sets out duties that attach when a provider suspects abuse or is told of it, and they run whether or not any application follows. The provider is to properly document physical, emotional or psychological injuries; to record observations and the circumstances of the visit; to provide a medical certificate on the examination free of charge and without your having to ask; to safeguard the records and make them available to you on request at actual cost; and to give you notice of the rights and remedies under the Act and the services available.
Going to a clinic is not the same as going public
This is the fear that keeps people out of consulting rooms, and the Act addresses it directly. Records of these cases, including those held at the barangay, are confidential, and public officers and employees and public or private clinics and hospitals are required to respect the victim's right to privacy. Publishing a victim's name, address, telephone number, school, business address, employer or other identifying information without her consent carries a penalty and exposes the publisher to the court's contempt power.
If your professional does apply
The application must be in writing, signed and verified under oath by the applicant, with the affidavit on the abuse and on your consent attached. The standard form asks whether counsel is requested and why, and allows a request that application fees be waived until hearing; a single application filed with a court is treated as an application for both the temporary and the permanent order. The contemporaneous notes and the certificate your provider is already required to keep are the material such an application draws on.
Related provisions
- RA 9262, Section 11 — How To Apply
- RA 9262, Section 13 — Legal Representation Of Petitioners
- RA 9262, Section 44 — Confidentiality