POPCOM supports raising statutory rape age to 16 years old

The Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) on Thursday supported Senate Majority Floor Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri's proposal to raise the age of statutory rape in the country to at least 16 years old.

Under the existing laws, statutory rape is committed when the offended party is under 12 years of age.

During the Senate committee on finance's hearing on POPCOM's P515 million proposed budget for 2021, POPCOM chief Juan Antonio Perez III reiterated that the number of girls aged 10 to 14 years old who get pregnant in the Philippines is increasing.

Perez mentioned that most teenage mothers in the country have partners who are older than them.

"There's an element of power play or exploitation here because it's older men who are the partners of these young [women]. The proposal of Senator Zubiri to bring up the age of consent to 16 or 18 would at least scare off these predators," he said.

Zubiri filed Senate Bill No. 305 last July 2019 entitled "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".

According to Zubiri, if an individual who is 21 years old and above had sexual intercourse with someone who is 16 years old or below, it can be considered rape under his proposed measure.

"The debate is whether 16 or 18 but we are definitely going to try to push the minimum age to no less than 16 years old," Zubiri said.

The bill is still pending in the committee level while a counterpart measure is also being discussed in the House of Representatives.

Further, Perez also stressed that some families with children who become teenage mothers usually end up being disqualified from Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) for dropping out of school because of pregnancy.

Senator Sonny Angara said a policy must be put in place to prevent such disqualifications since pregnancy is a "temporary state" and cutting off assistance because of it could further put families in a vicious cycle of poverty.

During the same hearing, the POPCOM chief said the Philippines is projected to see a record-high 2 million live births in 2021, the highest since 2012's 1.7 million record before the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health law was implemented.—AOL, GMA News