In 2018, we talked about how the age of consent in the Philippines is 12 years old. This came up because UNICEF Philippines asked people to sign a petition in July 2018 that would urge lawmakers to change this. Come August 2018, Sen. Leila De Lima “filed a measure seeking to raise the age of sexual consent from the current 12 to 18 years old.”
Fast forward to 2020, Inquirer.net reported that The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has advised Congress to pass the bill. CHR spokesperson Jacqueline Ann de Guia said, “Protection of young people from all forms of abuse and exploitation is among the important obligation of the State.”
Like the CHR, we hope Congress will pass the bill too. According to UNICEF, the age of consent in the Philippines is considered one of the lowest in the world. The anti-rape law that we have in place stated that it is only considered rape if a child is below 12 years old or is mentally challenged.
We’ll be waiting for more updates on the matter so watch this space.
[Inquirer.net]
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