What are moral damages under Philippine law?

Answer

Moral damages compensate for non-physical injury — physical suffering, mental anguish, fright, serious anxiety, besmirched reputation, wounded feelings, moral shock, social humiliation, and similar injury (Civil Code Article 2217). They may be recovered when they are the proximate result of the defendant's wrongful act or omission.

Two thresholds follow: the injury must be one the law recognizes, and it must be the proximate result of the wrongful act. Article 2219 lists the recoverable cases; for breach of contract Article 2220 requires fraud or bad faith. No proof of pecuniary loss is needed (Article 2216) and the amount rests in the court's discretion.

Sources & further reading

• Civil Code Art. 2217 — moral damages
• Civil Code Art. 2220 — bad-faith breach
• Full report: moral, exemplary & nominal damages

Cases on this topic

• Domingo Imperial v. Venancio Ziga
• Gashem Shookat Baksh v. Court of Appeals
• Hometown Development, Inc. v. Union Bank of the Philippines
• Joaquina Ventura v. Eusebio Bernabe
• Local Government of Quezon City v. Sy
• Lourdes Munsayac v. Benedicta De Lara
• Michael C. Guy v. Raffy Tulfo
• Occena v. Icamina

Related questions

• What are exemplary damages under Philippine law?
• What are nominal damages under Philippine law?
• What is a quasi-delict, and how does it lead to damages?
• Moral vs. exemplary vs. nominal damages — what is the difference?
• When can you recover moral damages for breach of contract?