2 senators seek to criminalize necrophilia

MANILA, Philippines—Punishment comes to those who sexually abuse a live victim in the Philippines. But do it with the dead and you’ll probably get away with it.

Two senators saw this loophole in the country’s criminal justice system and have filed separate bills criminalizing necrophilia.

The condition is characterized by a “morbid desire to have sexual contact with a dead body, usually of men to perform a sexual act with a dead woman,” according to Mosby’s Medical Dictionary.

Senator Manuel Villar said the “forcible imposition of manhood… directed against a lifeless female does not make the grisly act any less detestable and heinous.”

“In fact, this vicious bestiality is notoriously offensive and revolting to the feelings of the living even as it grossly desecrates the dead,” he said in an explanatory note to his Senate Bill No. 1297.

Senate President Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada noted that “only defamation to blacken the memory of one who is dead is criminalized” under the present Revised Penal Code.

“This bill seeks to plug this distinct lacuna in the law by penalizing necrophiles,” he said in his SB No. 505.

The two bills seek to amend the Revised Penal Code and introduce a provision against necrophilia.

Villar’s proposal imposes a jail term of 40 years or more on top of a fine of between P100,000 and P500,000. Estrada’s bill seeks the same fine but involves a lighter jail term of between six years and 20 years.

Under SB 505, sexual acts with a corpse cover “sexual intercourse, anal and/or oral sex.”

The Senate committee on justice and human rights conducted a preliminary hearing on the bills last month. Senator Francis Escudero, committee chairman, acknowledged the absence of penalty against necrophilia under existing laws.

He said this was also probably the reason why no such cases had been reported to both the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation at the time of the committee hearing.