demanding financial support

i would like to ask for advice regarding child support. my husband has been working abroad since 2006. while we are not separated legally, i've already told him that i want out of the marriage. this is not only because of serial infidelity (both while he was in the phils and in the country where he now works), but also because of his lack of responsibility. in the 5 years that he has been working abroad, he has sent money for only 4 times. we have a child who is already in grade school, and despite having promised to send financial support, we have not received a single centavo since 2008.

while i would like to have nothing more to do with him, i believe that i have a right as a wife to demand financial support for our child. i would like to ask for advice on what steps i can take that will make him provide for his child, as is he must as a father.

in line with this, i would also like to ask for opinions on what grounds i can use should i file for legal separation or annulment.

thanks and i hope to get feedback soon.

A petition for legal separation may be filed on any of the following grounds:
(1) Repeated physical violence or grossly abusive conduct directed against the petitioner, a common child, or a child of the petitioner;
(2) Physical violence or moral pressure to compel the petitioner to change religious or political affiliation;

(3) Attempt of respondent to corrupt or induce the petitioner, a common child, or a child of the petitioner, to engage in prostitution, or connivance in such corruption or inducement;

(4) Final judgment sentencing the respondent to imprisonment of more than six years, even if pardoned;

(5) Drug addiction or habitual alcoholism of the respondent;

(6) Lesbianism or homosexuality of the respondent;

(7) Contracting by the respondent of a subsequent bigamous marriage, whether in the Philippines or abroad;

( Sexual infidelity or perversion;

(9) Attempt by the respondent against the life of the petitioner; or

(10) Abandonment of petitioner by respondent without justifiable cause for more than one year.

you can also file a petition for support. or ask the court to administer or dispose the community/conjugal property to support you and your child

you can write to our embassy where he is, or file a complaint at owwa.

you can also file a criminal case of economic abuse under ra 9262.

thanks for the advice. i was already thinking of using abandonment as grounds for legal separation; however, i was told that if i know where he is working or living then that cannot qualify as annulment -- is this true?

also, i've been reading up on ra 9262 and would like to resort to this. but i was thinking that before i actually file a case, i may just ask a lawyer to send him a letter warning him that i will file a case unless he provides support. do you think this is a wise move? i have to admit that i know filing cases take time AND money, so i was hoping that getting a lawyer's notice might just scare him into providing support.

hope to get your thoughts on this. thanks again.

that would be prudent.