No we filed under spousal sponsorship, we were married. Yes we got a TRV while waiting for PR, despite her being from a high risk overstay country (Vietnam) and her being married to me. We got it because we sent in a very detailed and thorough TRV application, addressed any red flags, sent lots of documents, etc.
We applied for TRV yesterday again (after 4 rejections this year), just 12 days after receiving sponsor approval. There is a 15 month processing time for Manila. Today we received a request for passport. Fingers crossed; we hope we will get TRV.