With more and more children vulnerable to rape and violence while in quarantine, the Child Rights Network (CRN) has urged the Senate to expedite the passage of House Bill 7836, the End Child Rape Bill, which would increase the age for statutory rape from below 12 to below 16.
On Dec. 1, 2020, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading HB 7836, with 207 votes in favor and three against.
In the Senate, the CRN – the largest group of child rights advocates -- said several counterpart measures have already passed at the committee level. However, the Senate plenary has yet to tackle the consolidated version of the pending bills and the Senate Justice Committee has yet to conclude its deliberations on the said bills, it said.
"There are only a few session days left before Congress adjourns. Yet, we think there is enough time for our esteemed Senators to study the proposed bill expeditiously, and internalize the voluminous studies, evidence-based reports, and community-level consultations that served as a basis for drafting this bill," CRN Convenor Romeo Dongeto said.
Aside from increasing the age to determine statutory rape from below 12 to below 16, the bill would equalize the protection for victims of rape regardless of gender and adopt the "close in age exemption," which serves to reduce or eliminate the penalty of the crime.
It will likewise remove the “marriage as forgiveness” exemption where the perpetrator is freed of legal responsibility if the perpetrator marries the person he raped.
"Every single day that the passage of this important bill is delayed is another day of exposing Filipino children to the dangers of the archaic provisions of the Revised Penal Code on statutory rape. Child rights advocates all throughout the nation are willing to extend our help, support, and expertise to our Senators to speed up deliberating the pending bills,” said Dongeto.
The CRN said the proposed bill has already garnered tons of support, with an online petition at Change.org (bit.ly/ENDChildRape) already garnering almost 150,000 signatures.
The online petition, according to Dongeto, only proves that Filipinos are ready to move on from the "archaic age limit" it has observed for years. Before HB 7836, the age to determine statutory rape in the Philippines was the lowest in Asia and one of the lowest in the world at 12, only bested by Nigeria at age 11, he said.
"We hope that before Congress adjourns, this bill can be passed and signed into law for us to provide better access to justice for child rape victims," he added.