Court orders senator to stay away from wife, kids

Forty-five-year-old Daria C. Cing, wife of Sen. David M. Cing, has been living in hell for the past 20 years.

She has suffered all types of verbal, physical and mental abuse during all those years that they have been married. Even their two sons and daughter were not spared.

But yesterday, Daria has finally mustered enough courage to say stop. She has filed a petition for a temporary restraining order before the Superior Court to protect her and the kids from her abusive husband.

In her petition, she enumerated the physical abuse she has experienced.

On Dec. 8, 1981, while she was still pregnant with their eldest son, the senator punched her in the stomach and hit her head causing her to have early contraction.

The constant punching and hitting has left her with swollen lips in 1982, a cut on the nose from broken glasses in 1984, bruises on the knee after he threw a stool at her and in December 1999, Sen. Cing threw a mug containing hot coffee at her.

Amid all the abuses, Daria has always lived in fear causing her at one point to have a nervous breakdown. “When he shouts or yells, we just keep our mouth shut. We don’t answer back regardless whether we know that he’s right or wrong,” Daria said.

Violence in their home has affected the education of the children — two of them have been receiving failing grades. After learning about this, the senator got so mad, he started screaming at the two kids.

According to Daria, the senator was partly to blame why their son has neglected his studies because he tells him to go to cockfights instead of staying at home and studying. Again, the son was afraid to say no to Daddy.

Three days ago, the senator, who just arrived from an off-island trip, went berserk when he found out that the Division of Youth Services has taken custody of the two children since Oct. 20, 2000.

Sen. Cing demanded that the two kids be brought home immediately. The senator called up the police complaining about the action taken by DYS.

He kept on hitting the table while shouting at her.

At one point, he smashed the cordless phone that he was holding. It was the third cordless phone he has destroyed.

Daria said she kept on replacing the cordless phone every time her husband destroys it when he is angry but the senator apparently does not appreciate it.

When the senator left the house, Daria asked for help from the police . She was immediately referred to John Santos, a representative of the Family Violence Task Force who picked her up.

Superior Court Presiding Judge Edward Manibusan immediately issued a temporary restraining order ordering the Senator to stay at least 200 yards away from the place where her family is staying.

Violation of the order is considered in contempt of court and punishable by a $100 fine or six months in jail.