A hard pill to swallow. A sad and infuriating truth. One of the most rampant crime in our province is the rape and sexual abuse of minors and children. What makes such crime more horrible and contemptible is the fact that they are frequently committed and perpetrated by the persons who were supposed to protect their victims. In this week’s column, we will be discussing the laws protecting our children from these predators.
(1) Statutory Rape
President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Republic Act No. 11648 which redefines the crime of Statutory Rape as stated under Article 266-A of the Revised Penal Code. The amended version, to wit: “Article 266-A. Rape; When How Committed. – Rape is committed: 1) By a person who shall have carnal knowledge of another person under any of the following circumstances: d) When the offended party is under sixteen (16) years of age or is demented, even though none of the circumstances mentioned above be present: Provided, That there shall be no criminal liability on the part of a person having carnal knowledge of another person under sixteen (16) years of age when the age difference between the parties is not more than three (3) years, and the sexual act in question is proven to be consensual, non-abusive, and non-exploitative: Provided, further, That if the victim is under thirteen (13) years of age, this exception shall not apply.
Formerly, the threshold age for statutory rape was 12 years old, but by the enactment of Republic Act No. 11648, it has been raised to 16 years old. As ruled in People vs Ronquillo, G.R. No. 214762, what the law punishes in statutory rape is carnal knowledge of a woman below twelve years old. Hence, force and intimidation are immaterial; the only subject of inquiry is the age of the woman and whether carnal knowledge took place. The law presumes that the victim does not and cannot have a will of her own on account of her tender years; the child’s consent is immaterial because of her presumed incapacity to discern evil from good. Simply, only the age of the victim and the fact of sexual intercourse are needed to be established for the crime of statutory rape to be committed.
Worthy of note that the said amendment provides for an exception. Statutory rape is not committed if the following requisites are present: (1) The age difference between the parties is not more than three (3) years; and (2) The sexual intercourse is consensual, non-abusive; and non-exploitative.
Child Abuse Law (Republic Act 7610)
For conviction under Section 5(b), Article III of RA 7610, the following requisites must be established: “(1) the accused commits the act of sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct; (2) the said act is performed with a child exploited in prostitution or subjected to other sexual abuse; and (3) that child, whether male or female, is below 18 years of age.”
As stated under the IRR of RA 7610, “lascivious conduct” is defined as the intentional touching, either directly or through the clothing, of the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or buttocks of any person with the intent to abuse, humiliate, harass, degrade, or arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person, among others. On the other hand, “other sexual abuse” is construed to cover not only a child who is abused for profit, but also the one who engages in lascivious conduct through the coercion or intimidation by an adult.
If the victim is 16 years old but less than 18 is deemed to be a child “exploited in prostitution and other sexual abuse” because she agreed to indulge in sexual intercourse “for money, profit or any other consideration or due to coercion or influence of any adult, syndicate or group,” the offender will now be penalized under Section 5(b), R.A. No. 7610. If the same victim was subject to lascivious conduct as defined in the IRR of RA 7610, the offender will also be penalized under Section 5(b), R.A. No. 7610.
Qualified Seduction/Simple Seduction
In case the same victim (who is 16 years old but less than 18) consented to the sexual intercourse, no coercion or intimidation was employed, and no money, profit, consideration was given, the offender may be penalized for Qualified Seduction (Article 337) or Simple seduction (Article 338) of the Revised Penal Code as the case may be.