Short answer. Moral damages compensate for suffering the mind and feelings endure — things like mental anguish, fright, wounded feelings, besmirched reputation, and social humiliation. Though they cannot be measured in money, you may recover them when they are the proximate result of the defendant's wrongful act or omission and the law allows them for your kind of case.
What the law says
Moral damages include physical suffering, mental anguish, fright, serious anxiety, besmirched reputation, wounded feelings, moral shock, social humiliation, and similar injury. Though incapable of pecuniary computation, moral damages may be recovered if they are the proximate result of the defendant's wrongful act for omission.
Civil Code, Article 2217 — Moral Damages Defined. Read the full provision →
What moral damages compensate
Article 2217 describes moral damages by the harms they cover: they include physical suffering, mental anguish, fright, serious anxiety, besmirched reputation, wounded feelings, moral shock, social humiliation, and similar injury. Unlike compensation for lost money or property, these address injury to a person's feelings, dignity, and peace of mind. The list is illustrative, capturing the range of emotional and reputational harm a wrongful act can inflict. The point of the article is that the law recognizes such intangible suffering as real injury for which a wronged person may be compensated in money.
They must flow from the wrongful act
Recovery is not automatic merely because you feel aggrieved. The article says moral damages may be recovered if they are the proximate result of the defendant's wrongful act or omission. Two things are built into that. First, there must be a wrongful act or omission by the defendant. Second, your suffering must be the proximate — direct and natural — consequence of that wrong, not a remote or self-inflicted upset. Even though the article acknowledges the harm is incapable of exact pecuniary computation, the causal link between the wrong and the suffering still has to be shown.
When the law permits the claim
Beyond causation, moral damages are allowed only in the cases the Civil Code specifies. They are recoverable, for example, in a wrongful act or negligence causing physical injuries, in cases of defamation, and in certain breaches of contract where the defendant acted in bad faith or fraudulently, among other situations the law enumerates. The claimant must generally plead and prove the factual basis of the suffering. So the question is not only whether you were hurt, but whether your particular case is one for which the law grants this kind of recovery.
What moral damages are not
Moral damages are compensatory, meant to ease the injured party's suffering — not to punish the wrongdoer; that deterrent role belongs to exemplary damages. They are also not awarded as a matter of course in every breach or slight, and courts keep the amounts reasonable and proportionate to the injury actually shown rather than a source of enrichment. A bare claim of hurt feelings, without a recognized wrongful act, a proven proximate cause, and a legal basis for the award, will not by itself support a recovery of moral damages.
Cases citing this provision
These Supreme Court decisions cite the provision above. We list them so you can read them yourself; the summaries of what each decided are not ours to give.
- People of the Philippines vs. Urban Salcedo, et al. accused-appellants, Khadaffy Janjalani, et al., accused, G.R. No. 186523, June 22, 2011 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Noel Buenaventura vs. Court of Appeals, et al, G.R. No. 127358, March 31, 2005 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Bank of the Philippine Island vs. Casa Montessori Internationale, et al, G.R. No. 149454, May 28, 2004 — read the decision on LawPhil →
- Isabelita Vital-Gozon vs. Court of Appeals, et al, G.R. No. 129132, July 8, 1998 — read the decision on LawPhil →