Negros Oriental Representative Arnulfo Teves Jr. filed a bill seeking to declare ‘ghosting’ or the cutting off of communication without notice on someone you date as an act of emotional abuse.
Teves made the proposal under his House Bill 611, which defines ghosting as a form of emotional abuse and happens when a person is engaged in a dating relationship with the opposite sex, in turn affecting the mental state of the victim.
“Ghosting is a form of spite that develops feelings of rejection and neglect. Ghosting has adverse effects on the mental state of the one being ghosted and his or her emotional state is still adversely affected as he or she will be constantly thinking of the welfare or the unexplained reasons of the one who ghosted,” he said in his explanatory note.
“The ambiguity with ghosting is that there is no real closure between the parties concerned and as such, it can be likened to a form of emotional cruelty and should be punished as an emotional offense because of the trauma it causes to the ‘ghosted’ party. In view of the foregoing, the approval of this bill is earnestly sought,” Teves added.
The proposal also defines dating relationships as a situation wherein the parties live as husband and wife without the benefit of marriage or are romantically involved over time and on a continuing basis during the course of the relationship.
Moreover, casual acquaintance or ordinary socialization between two individuals in a business or social context is not considered a dating relationship.
However, the bill does not propose the form of penalty to be meted on the offending party.
— Ronald Espartinez