MANILA, Philippines — Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel F. Zubiri on Wednesday said he has proposed to raise the age for statutory rape to 15 years old to provide additional protection to children.
Zubiri said that under the current law, rape is deemed “statutory rape” when the victim has a mental disability or when the victim is below the age of 12.
“Ibig sabihin ng statutory rape ay ituturing na rape ang pagkakaroon ng ‘carnal knowledge’ o pagniniig – basta ang edad ng bata ay mas mababa sa 12 taon – at hindi kailangan patunayan na gumamit ng pwersa o pananakot ang maysala. Sa aking proposal, itataas natin ang edad sa 15 taon gulang,” Zubiri said in a statement.
Zubiri earlier filed Senate Bill No. 305 titled “An Act Increasing the Age for Determining Statutory Rape to Provide Stronger Protection for Children, and Amending for this Purpose Act No. 3815, Otherwise Known as the Revised Penal Code, as Amended by Republic Act 8353, Otherwise Known as the Anti-Rape Law of 1997”.
“Naniniwala ako na maraming sexual violence ang nagaganap sa mga batang 12 taon hanggang 15 taong gulang. Ngunit hindi maparusahan ang maysala dahil sinasabi ng maysala na pumayag ang bata, kahit sa totoo ay sapilitan ang naganap,” the senator said.
Zubiri further explained that he filed the bill based on the 2016 National Baseline Study on Violence Against Children (NBS-VAC) which found that one in every five children below 18 years of age had experience sexual violence.
“By raising the age to 15 years, I hope that we could put a dent on the number of children victimized since ‘carnal knowledge’ of children aged 12 up to 15 years will now be considered statutory rape,” Zubiri said.
“Huwag na nating pahirapan ang mga batang biktima at ang kanilang mga magulang o guardians na makahanap ng hustisya,” the senator added. /muf