Philippines set to raise age of sexual consent from 12 to 16 to protect youngsters

The Philippines is set to approve a bill that raises the age of sexual consent from 12 to 16, according to Daily Mail UK. Currently, the Catholic-majority nation has one of the lowest ages of consent in the world and it also allows adults to legally have sex with children as young as 12, but only if they agree. For decades the children rights activists had been lobbying to increase the age, however, they had been facing resistance from what they described as a “culture of patriarchy” in a country where abortion and divorce are illegal. 

Now, the Philippines Congress is looking to approve a bill that will raise the age of sexual consent to 16. If passed, the legislation will help protect youngsters. According to reports, the Philippines is a global hotspot for online child sex abuse and the nation also has reported that over 500 teenagers get pregnant and give birth every day. 

Patrizia Benvenuti, who is UNICEF’s chief of child protection in the Philippines called the latest move a “victory for Filipino children”. She also added that pegging 12 as the age of consent is really not consistent with scientific studies on brain development. 

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Bill may repeal ‘forgiveness clause’ 

Now, according to CNN, the measure will further also seek to broaden the definition of rape. Under the bill, rape is likewise committed when the victim is 16 years of age or over and has a disability that renders him or her unable to fully understand the consequences of any sexual activity. It will hold liable those guilty of committing “grooming” when such results in acts of rape, as defined by the presented amendments. 

It is believed that the issue of consent is among the reasons a lot of perpetrators of sexual assault “aren’t prosecuted properly” in the Philippines. Previously, the Child Rights Network had cited 2015 to 2017 data from the Department of Social Welfare and Development which showed most of the victims of rape and child incest were between the ages of 14 to below 18. Now, the bill attempts to repeal the “forgiveness clause”, which extinguishes criminal liability upon the presence of forgiveness or subsequent marriage between the rapist and the victim. 

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