Senate ratifies bill raising statutory rape age from 12 to 16

The bill raising the age of sexual consent from 12 to 16 years old is one step away from being enacted into law.

This, after the Senate ratified the bicameral conference committee report on the disagreeing provisions of the proposed Act Increasing the Age for Determining Statutory Rape and other Acts of Sexual Abuse and Exploitation to Protect Children.

The bill seeks to amend Republic Act (RA) 3815 or the Revised Penal Code and RA 7610 or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.

The House ratified the measure on Tuesday.

This means the bill is now up for President Rodrigo Duterte’s signature to become a law.

According to Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, one of the principal authors of the measure, the bicam has adopted the Senate’s definition of rape and the House of Representative’s provision on the determination of the age of statutory rape.

“We adopted the House definition of under 16 years of age. It was clarified in the bicam meeting that under 16 means 15 years and 364 days old or just one day short of turning 16 years old,” he said.

“In the Senate version, we used 16 years old and below, this is to avoid any confusion that may arise from as the layman’s understanding of 16 years old would also mean 16 years and 364 days old,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Zubiri said the bicam has adopted the Senate’s provision on the so-called “Romeo and Juliet or sweetheart clause” which states that when the sexual act is consensual and when one of the parties is under 16 years of age there would be no criminal liability so long as the age difference is three years.

The bicam has introduced a provision that the sexual relation should be non-abusive and non-exploitative.

Apart from this, the bicam also inserted a new paragraph that will mandate the Department of Education to include in the basic education curriculum appropriate subjects concerning the rights and protection of children in relation to this act.

“I believe this provision will empower children against sexual advances and predators and help them avoid situations of statutory rape or other crimes of sexual violence against children,” Zubiri said. —LDF, GMA News