Short answer. Yes. Where the applicant is not the victim, the Act requires an affidavit from that applicant attesting both to the circumstances of the abuse and to the circumstances of the consent you gave for the filing. Your consent is therefore a document in the application, not an informal understanding.
What the law says
If the applicants is not the victim, the application must be accompanied by an affidavit of the applicant attesting to (a) the circumstances of the abuse suffered by the victim and (b) the circumstances of consent given by the victim for the filling of the application.
RA 9262, Section 11 — How To Apply. Read the full provision →
Two things in one affidavit
The requirement is easy to half-remember as an affidavit about the abuse. It is about two separate matters, and the second is the one people overlook: how the consent came to be given. Your aunt cannot satisfy it by describing what she has witnessed, however detailed her account, and she cannot satisfy it by asserting that you would obviously agree if asked. The Act attaches the consent element to a sworn document precisely so that it is on the record rather than assumed by the person filing.
Whose oath sits on what
The application itself must be in writing, signed and verified under oath by the applicant — that is your aunt, not you. The consent affidavit is likewise hers. So you are not the one swearing to the contents of the petition, which is often the reassurance people are looking for when they ask this question. What you supply is the consent she then attests to. If you would rather hold the oath yourself, applying in your own name remains open, and the two are alternatives within the same section.
What “circumstances of consent” is asking for
Not a signature alone. The wording invites an account: when you were asked, what you were told about what an application involves, and how you answered. A consent that was given months ago in different conditions, or given to a different question, is thinner than one given after a full conversation about the hearings and the service on the respondent. If your aunt is drafting this, the useful step is that both of you can say the same thing about when and how the discussion happened.
If you are not ready to give it
Then this route is not available yet, and nothing in the Act penalises you for that or treats the delay as evidence about the abuse. The other help in the same section is not conditional on your consenting: barangay officials and court personnel are directed to assist applicants in preparing an application, and law enforcement agents to extend assistance in cases brought to their attention. So the groundwork can be laid — the form, the venue, whether counsel can be requested — while the decision stays with you.
Related provisions
- RA 9262, Section 9 — Who May File
- RA 9262, Section 10 — Where To Apply
- RA 9262, Section 13 — Legal Representation Of Petitioners