Senate joint panel OKs bill increasing age of consent to 16

October 2 ------ A bill increasing the age of consent in the Philippines to 16 from the current 12 was approved by a Senate joint panel on Thursday. This means that a sexual intercourse between an adult and an individual below 16 years old shall be considered statutory rape. "I move that we approve it on committee level so that you can come out with a committee report. I guarantee you, Mr. Chairman, that we will steward this on the floor pretty well," Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri told Senator Richard Gordon who was presiding over the hearing of the joint committees on justice, and women and children.

"I've gotten support of almost all our colleagues already, Mr. Chairman... We promise all our stakeholders that before Christmas we already have a statutory rape age law," he added. Eight bills seeking the same endeavor of amending the current age of consent of 12 has been tackled in the hearing. Zubiri and Gordon who both initially filed bills seeking to increase the age of consent to 15 agreed to make it 16.

Other proponents of the bill such as Senators Nancy Binay and Bong Revilla also pushed for 16 years old. Senators Leila De Lima, Sherwin Gatchalian, Risa Hontiveros, and Imee Marcos, meanwhile, proposed to increase the age of consent to 18 years old. During the hearing, Zubiri said setting the age of consent at 16 would be a good amendment.

"For some societies and cultures, like in Bukidnon, we have the seven tribes, they marry at an early age. But I think 17 is a decent age already. I think 16 is a reasonable age for this bill," he said. The senators also agreed to include a "sweetheart" or "Romeo and Juliet" provision to exempt individuals from criminal liability if they are "similarly aged."

"Ang ayaw lang po natin, the man is 22 years old, the man is 25 years old, the man is 45 years old going out with a 14-year-old girl," Zubiri said as an example. The bill will still be open for debates and amendments once it reaches the plenary. A joint panel in the House of Representatives also approved a similar measure last August.

Source: gmanetwork.com