Poe seeks to repeal discriminatory provisions of Revised Penal Code
Published Mar 12, 2020 00:00 am
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Updated Mar 12, 2020 00:00 am
By Vanne Terrazola
Senator Grace Poe is seeking to repeal a part of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) which allows the murder or assault of a spouse caught having extramarital affairs.
In celebration of the Women's Month, the senator recently filed Senate Bill No. 1410 to abolish Article 247 of the RPC, which gives legally-married persons the license to kill his wife or daughters under 18 years of age when caught having sex with another person or their seducers.
Senator Grace Poe (ROY DOMINGO / MANILA BULLETIN)
The current law penalizes these crimes with destierro, or mere banishment.
"Any legally married person who having surprised his spouse in the act of committing sexual intercourse with another person, shall kill any of them or both of them in the act or immediately thereafter, or shall inflict upon them any serious physical injury, shall suffer the penalty of destierro," it stated.
Article 247 also provides that, "If he shall inflict upon them physical injuries of any other kind, he shall be exempt from punishment."
A provision under it explicitly described the penalty as "benefits".
In filing her bill, Poe said the Article 247 is an outright discrimination against women and girls, and legitimizes violence against children.
"In this day and age, there must no longer be room for laws that discriminate against women and girls. Honor killing is a practice that has been widely condemned as it runs roughshod over due process and the basic tenets of human rights," the lawmaker said in a statement.
"Why should we allow unfair double standards prejudicial to women to perpetuate, as well as the antiquated notion that daughters are mere properties of their parents?" she lamented.
She also pointed out: "Killing is killing. People should not be allowed to take the law into their own hands."
In seeking the repeal of the said law, she said other articles of the RPC, as well as the country's Family Code, already recognized sexual infidelity and seduction as criminal offenses.
Poe said her bill seeks to promote a "more progressive view of family life".
The measure is also in line with international commitments to repeal discriminatory laws against women and children under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and Convention of the Rights of the Child, she said.
Senator Grace Poe (ROY DOMINGO / MANILA BULLETIN)
The current law penalizes these crimes with destierro, or mere banishment.
"Any legally married person who having surprised his spouse in the act of committing sexual intercourse with another person, shall kill any of them or both of them in the act or immediately thereafter, or shall inflict upon them any serious physical injury, shall suffer the penalty of destierro," it stated.
Article 247 also provides that, "If he shall inflict upon them physical injuries of any other kind, he shall be exempt from punishment."
A provision under it explicitly described the penalty as "benefits".
In filing her bill, Poe said the Article 247 is an outright discrimination against women and girls, and legitimizes violence against children.
"In this day and age, there must no longer be room for laws that discriminate against women and girls. Honor killing is a practice that has been widely condemned as it runs roughshod over due process and the basic tenets of human rights," the lawmaker said in a statement.
"Why should we allow unfair double standards prejudicial to women to perpetuate, as well as the antiquated notion that daughters are mere properties of their parents?" she lamented.
She also pointed out: "Killing is killing. People should not be allowed to take the law into their own hands."
In seeking the repeal of the said law, she said other articles of the RPC, as well as the country's Family Code, already recognized sexual infidelity and seduction as criminal offenses.
Poe said her bill seeks to promote a "more progressive view of family life".
The measure is also in line with international commitments to repeal discriminatory laws against women and children under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and Convention of the Rights of the Child, she said.