Bill raising age of sexual consent sponsored in Senate

The bill defining the crime of statutory rape and raising the age of sexual consent from 12 to 16 years old reached the Senate plenary on Wednesday.

Senator Richard Gordon, chair of Senate Justice and Human Rights committee, sponsored Senate Bill 2332 during Wednesday’s plenary session.

“We advocate to increase the age of sexual consent, through multisectoral partnerships with the judiciary, social welfare, education and health sectors as thousands of children are robbed of their youth—the physical and emotional effect creates lasting emotional and psychological scars, that the damage can last for a lifetime,” Gordon said in his sponsorship speech.

In introducing the measure, the lawmaker noted that the Philippines has the lowest age of sexual consent in Asia.

He lamented that child sexual abuse affects the victim’s psychological and physical well-being, family and intimate relationships, faith, and education and career.

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“It is for these reasons that Congress has a role in preventing and responding to child sexual abuse in the country. We must uphold the right of the child to freedom from sexual abuse,” Gordon said.

SB 2332 includes a “close-in-age” exemption which provides for consensual, non-abusive and non-exploitative sexual activity between partners whose difference of age is four years from being considered as statutory rape.

“This seeks to balance the best interests of the child considering their evolving capacities, physical and mental maturity, vis-a-vis their protection against rape, sexual abuse and exploitation,” Gordon said.

The measure also provides equal protection to young men, he added.

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“The sexual orientation of the offender is of no importance as we find that perpetrators of sexual abuse against boys are given much lesser sentences than those found guilty of raping girls. The proposed law will address this issue by giving a gender-neutral protection to children,” Gordon explained.

According to a 2015 study by the government, backed by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Philippines, of 3,866 children and young people (13 to 24 years old), one in four children or 24.9% has suffered from any form of sexual violence in any setting.

Data from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) from 2015 to 2017 also indicated that most of the victims of rape and child incest were between the ages of 14 to below 18, way above the 12-year-old minimum age set by Republic Act 8353 or the Anti-Rape Law of 1997.

Gordon also noted the National Bureau of Investigation’s 2020 report, which showed that  about 17.1% of children aged 13-18 years experienced any form of sexual violence while growing up.

A prevalence of 1.6 percent was noted in the past 12 months, the senator said.— BM, GMA News