Arroyo re-files bill seeking to punish necrophilia
Former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo: Seeking stiffer penalties for necrophilia. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines—Former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo wants stiff penalties for persons who commit necrophilia, or deriving sexual gratification from copulating with corpses, an act that she describes as “grisly and heinous.”
Arroyo and son Camarines Sur Rep. Diosdado Arroyo have re-filed their bill to criminalize necrophilia and to punish it with a prohibitive fine and imprisonment.
Necrophilia is not a criminal offense under present laws and at most, desecration of a corpse makes one liable for damages under the Civil Code, according to the Arroyos in an explanatory note.
They said necrophilia should be penalized under the Revised Penal Code.
Their bill defines necrophilia as committing sexual intercourse or anal and/or oral sex with a corpse.
‘Notoriously offensive’
“The incorporation of a new Article imposing stiffer penalties on those who engage in such a grisly and heinous act shall put a stop to such vicious bestiality, notoriously offensive and revolting to the feelings of the living,” they said.
The bill prescribes a minimum jail term of six to 12 years and a maximum term of 12 to 20 years for offenders. They would also be slapped with fines ranging from P100,000 to P500,000.
If necrophilia is committed by two or more persons, or by any person in whose care or custody the corpse is found, the penalty to be imposed is 12 to 20 years’ imprisonment.
The Arroyos filed a similar bill in the 15th Congress. It was referred to the justice committee but was not passed by the panel.
The necrophilia bill is one of the early bills filed by the former president. She earlier filed a bill encouraging corporate social responsibility and another measure giving juridical personality to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center which, incidentally, is where she is currently detained for plunder and electoral sabotage charges.
