Sexual consent now 16 from 12

President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law a measure raising the age of sexual consent from 12 to 16, which lawmakers said was needed to protect more children from abuse.

Duterte on Friday approved Republic Act (RA) 11648 that would regard as rape any sexual intercourse with a minor below

16 years old — regardless of whether the minor gave his or her consent. Copies of the law were sent to the media on Monday.

The measure included a controversial clause that exempts young couples aged below 16, with age differences of not more than three years, from criminal liability. However, their sexual interaction should be proven to be “consensual, non-abusive and non-exploitative.”

The exemption clause would not apply if one of the parties is 13 years old and below.

Duterte’s newly-signed law amended RA 8353 of 1997, also called the Anti-Rape Law of 1997, to raise the age of sexual consent and the age of statutory rape from 12 to 16.

Sexual intercourse or lascivious act with a child under 16 years old would be punished with reclusion temporal in its medium period.

The measure included a controversial clause that exempts young couples aged below 16, with age differences of not more than three years, from criminal liability. However, their sexual interaction should be proven to be consensual, non-abusive, and non-exploitative.

It also provided additional protection to minors aged 16 and under against qualified seduction, child prostitution and other sexual abuse, child trafficking, and forceful hiring of minors for obscene publications and indecent shows.

Sexual intercourse or lascivious act with a child under 16 years old would be punished with “reclusion temporal in its medium period,” according to RA 11648.

Any person engaged in child trafficking would also face “reclusion temporal to reclusion perpetua.”

Meanwhile, any person who kept or had in his company a minor 16 years of age or under — or who is 10 years or more — his junior in any public or private places would suffer the penalty of prision mayor in its maximum period and a fine of not less than P50,000, part of the law read.

The penalty under said provision would not apply to any person who is related within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity or “any bond recognized by law, local custom and tradition or acts in the performance of a social, moral, or legal duty.”

Prior to the signing of the law, the current minimum age of sexual consent in the Philippines is 12 — the lowest in Southeast Asia and one of the lowest in the world.

Advocates have said that with the changes, Philippines sexual violation laws would better reflect international standards where 16 is commonly accepted as the age a person can consent to sex.

They have also been pushing for its passage in accordance with the Philippines’ obligation to protect children as it ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990. Article 1 of the Convention defines a “child” as a person under the age of 18.

Data from the Philippine Commission on Women showed that there were 13,923 reported cases of violence against women and children at the height of strict lockdowns due to the pandemic from March to November 2020.

RA 11648 would take effect 15 days after publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation, Duterte said.