Gatchalian wants age of sex consent raised

SEN. Sherwin Gatchalian wants to raise the age of sexual consent to 18, saying teenage mothers tend to be victims of sexual abuse.

The senator earlier filed Senate Bill 739 raising the age of sexual consent to 18. He deplored that the age of consent in the Philippines is 12 years old, the lowest in Asia and the second lowest in the world.

“In our country, we consider 18 as the age of majority, but the age of sexual consent is 12,” he lamented.

There is a need to amend the law to protect our youth and prosecute those who abuse them,” Gatchalian said on Sunday in a statement.

He earlier warned that the coronavirus pandemic could exacerbate

domestic child violence, abuse and trigger a surge in teenage pregnancy.

According to the Philippine Commission on Women, of the 13,923 cases of violence against women and children recorded from March 15 to November 30 last year, when restrictions posed challenges to rescue efforts, 4,747 were cases of violence against children.

The Commission on Population and Development (Popcom) pointed out that cases of teenage pregnancy in the Philippines continued to surge in 2019 as some teenagers are victims of child abuse or rape.

Popcom Executive Director Juan Antonio Perez 3rd said two out of three of the partners of these adolescents were older by 20 years so there’s a degree of power play.

Perez added that an analysis of the 2019 data from the Philippine

Statistics Authority would suggest 10,000 cases of statutory rape.

Gatchalian stressed the importance of keeping girls in school, where they can access information and sexuality education. He also identified the need to amend the law on statutory rape as a means of running after abusers preying on young girls.

Popcom recently reported that pregnancies among minors aged 10 to 14 increased by 7 percent in 2019 — 62,510 compared to 62,341 in 2018.

According to the National Demographic and Health Survey, teenage mothers are more prone to abuse. In its 2017 report, it said 26.4 percent of married women aged 15 to 19 reported experiencing physical, sexual and emotional violence.