ILOILO City – To further protect children from sexual exploitation, Ilonggo stakeholders gathered to express support behind the campaign to increase the age of sexual consent at least 16 or older for statutory rape.
Dubbed “Breaking the Silence: A Policy Forum to #EndChildRape”, a recent forum organized by Cameleon Association Inc. – a nongovernment organization that works to prevent child abuse and held at the University of the Philippines Visayas- Iloilo City campus – was part of a series of public information campaign to raise public awareness on the issue.
Romeo Dongeto, executive director of the Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development and part of the Child Rights Network, said that at present, the Philippine statutory rape law is only violated when an individual has consensual sexual activity with a person under the age of 12.
“We hope the public will become more aware that this issue is equally important. We will soon propose a bill. We are discussing with our champions in Congress to file this,” he said.
Lawyer Marj Ardivilla, child protection specialist of the United Nations Children’s Fund in the Philippines and who talked about “The Child and The Law” during the forum, said they would also push that the protection be extended to boys.
“Sexual violence against boys is just as traumatic as sexual violence against girls,” she said.
In Iloilo, the 12 to 18 age group was recorded to have the highest cases, revealed Ardivilla.
In the 2015 baseline survey on violence against children, there was a spike in forced consummated sex (rape) between 13 to 15, ages that are not protected by law.
“It means that one Filipino child in 25 is raped. In a bigger scale of sexual violence, one out of five Filipino children has experienced other forms of sexual violence,” said Ardivilla.
During the forum, senators Sherwin Gatchalian and Risa Hontiveros also discussed the amendments they introduced to the existing Anti-Rape Law.
Gatchalian, who authored Senate Bill 1575, said there are loopholes in the law that make minor children vulnerable to abuse. He cited statistics showing that most of those abused are between the 16 to 17 age group.
Gatchalian and Hontiveros both proposed that the age be increased to 18 years old.
“I think for consistency purposes, and also to address the realities of our problems, in my opinion it has to be raised to 18,” Gatchalian said.
In addition to increasing the age, he also proposed in his bill interventions so that victims of abuse can return to and live normal lives.
Hontiveros said Senate Bill 1252 “also emphasizes the absence of consent as an essential component of the crime of rape.” She also underscored the significance of having social institutions where survivors can seek refuge.
“We want them to reclaim peace of minds, move forward and flourish. At the same time, the real goal is for no child, woman or man to ever be a victim in the first place,” she added. (PNA)
