House leader hails signing of law increasing age for statutory rape: 'Indignation not enough'

Tingog Party-list Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez praised President Duterte's signing of Republic Act (RA) 116481, which raised the minimum age of sexual consent from 12 to 16.

The Chief Executive signed RA 116841 into law on March 7.

Before the enactment, the Philippines had the lowest mininum age of sexual consent in Asia, and among the lowest in the world.

The new law combined House Bill (HB) No.7836, which Romualdez was a principal author of, and its counterpart Senate Bill (SB) No.2332.

“Increasing the age of determining statutory rape is an advocacy we have been fighting for a couple of years and we have been successful in passing this measure last December as it was overwhelmingly approved in the House of Representatives,” said Romualdez in a press statement on Tuesday, March 8.

Romualdez, who chairs the House Committee on the Welfare of Children, believes that increasing the age of sexual consent is one of the most critical factors in protecting minors from sexual viiolence.

“Child rape is an ugly and painful reality that we must collectively confront and address immediately and decisively. But it is not enough that we are indignant. Our indignation must translate into action, and concrete measures to stop it,” Romualdez concluded.