Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said the Senate and the House of Representatives panels had their bicameral conference committee meeting to iron out differing provisions on their bills seeking to raise the age for determining statutory rape.
From the previous twelve years old, the measures now seek to revise it to be below sixteen years of age.
“No one should become a victim of rape or of sexual violence, more so our young and innocent children,” Zubiri said.
“So I have taken this issue as a personal advocacy—as a parent, as a Christian, and more importantly as a legislator,’’ he pointed out.
“I’m very grateful to all my colleagues, particularly Senator (Juan Edgardo) ‘’Sonny’’ Angara, Senator Risa Hontiveros, and Senator (Manuel) Lito Lapid, for assisting me and trusting me to shepherd this bill through the Senate,” Zubiri said.
Zubiri authored the Senate version of the bill.
“I would also like to thank Senator Richard Gordon, our chair(man) of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, for designating me to head the Senate bicameral panel,’’ he said.
Along with increasing the age of sexual consent, the Senate bill also amends the language of the law to be gender-responsive and to reflect that rape is committed by a “person who shall have carnal knowledge of another person”, rather than the previous language that defines rape as being between a man and a woman.
“We are really gunning for the passage of this bill into law before this Congress ends. A lot of groups and advocates like the UNICEF have been waiting for this, so I am very happy that we are at this stage, about to conclude a very important and relevant piece of legislation towards the protection of our children,’’ Zubiri pointed out.
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