MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is urging both chambers of Congress to pass a bill that raises the age of sexual consent, which at present is set at an alarming 12 years old.
CHR spokesperson and lawyer Jacqueline Ann de Guia said on Wednesday that the filing of House Bill No. 4160 by Tingog Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez and Majority Floor Leader Rep. Martin Romualdez, is a welcome development especially as the country has one of the lowest age of sexual consent.
“Protection of young people from all forms of abuse and exploitation is among the important obligations of the State. The filing of House Bill No. 4160, which seeks to raise the minimum age of sexual consent is a welcome development in child protection,” De Guia said in a statement.
“Increasing the age of consent is in fact long overdue and its urgency cannot be further stressed. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund or UNICEF, the Philippines has the lowest age of sexual consent—the global average is 16,” she added.
Under HB 4160, which was filed last August 29, 2019, the age of sexual consent will be at 16 years old — which means that an adult who has sex with someone below 16 years old, regardless of the victims’ sexual orientation, will automatically face life imprisonment.
Statutory rape is defined as a non-forcible sexual activity, but one of the persons engaging in the act is still below the age of consent — as currently defined, below 12 years old.
The bill is currently pending at the House Committee on the revision of laws.
Based on current laws, sexual intercourse with children below 12 years old is tantamount to rape while sex with someone under 18 years constitutes child abuse and exploitation. De Guia says rape victims not covered by the statutory rape provisions have to undergo the trauma of retelling the incident.
For detained Senator Leila de Lima, however, the age of sexual consent should even be pushed higher or up to 18 years old.
READ: House bill increases the age of consent in rape cases from 12 to 16
READ: De lima wants the age of sexual consent raised to 18
De Guia said adjusting the age of sexual consent is necessary because some teenagers still cannot comprehend the short and long-term impacts of sexual activities.
“Adolescents and young teenagers lack the emotional, physical, and psychological maturity to make an informed decision about sex. The crucial, formative years of adolescence can be confusing and daunting,” she explained.“Yet, the existing law expects children age 12 to be discerning when it comes to sex. This makes them easy prey for sex offenders.”
The CHR spokesperson also noted that the current age of sexual consent is not consistent with the age of people given access to reproductive health measures — something that makes children susceptible to sexually-transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS.
“Statistics already provide alarming indicators—UNAIDS reported that the number of HIV infections in the Philippines has more than doubled in the past six years and has become the country with the fastest-growing HIV epidemic in Asia and the Pacific,” she said.
“Children are at risk every day because of archaic laws. Heightened urgency is expected to ensure their protection. Laws that genuinely protect them from the ever-changing, volatile, and open-world need to be passed immediately and eventually enforced resolutely,” she added.