Republic Act 7610: Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and

Discrimination Act

AN ACT PROVIDING FOR STRONGER DETERRENCE AND SPECIAL PROTECTION

AGAINST CHILD ABUSE, EXPLOITATION AND DISCRIMINATION, PROVIDING
PENALTIES FOR ITS VIOLATION AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

A. Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination

Act- It is hereby declared to be the policy of the State to provide special protection to
children from all firms of abuse, neglect, cruelty exploitation and discrimination and other
conditions, prejudicial their development; provide sanctions for their commission and
carry out a program for prevention and deterrence of and crisis intervention in situations
of child abuse, exploitation and discrimination. The State shall intervene on behalf of the
child when the parent, guardian, teacher or person having care or custody of the child
fails or is unable to protect the child against abuse, exploitation and discrimination or
when such acts against the child are committed by the said parent, guardian, teacher or
person having care and custody of the same.
 The best interests of children shall be the paramount consideration or to solve in all
actions concerning them, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare
institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities, and legislative bodies, consistent
with the principle of First Call for Children as enunciated in the United Nations
Convention of the Rights of the Child. Every effort shall be solve to promote the welfare
of children and enhance their opportunities for a useful and happy life.

“Children” refers to person below eighteen (18) years of age or those over but are
unable to fully take care of themselves or protect themselves from abuse, neglect, cruelty,
exploitation or discrimination because of a physical or mental disability or condition;

B. Formulation of the Program - This program formulated by the Department of Justice

and the Department of Social Welfare and Development in coordination with other
government agencies and private sector concerned, within one (1) year from the
affectivity of this Act, to protect children against child prostitution and other sexual
abuse; child trafficking, obscene publications and indecent shows; other acts of abuse;
and circumstances which endanger child survival and normal development.

C. Protective Custody of the Child - The protective custody of the child shall be
immediately placed under the protective custody of the Department of Social Welfare
and Development pursuant to Executive Order No. 56, series of 1986. In the regular
performance of this function, the officer of the Department of Social Welfare and
Development shall be free from any administrative, civil or criminal liability. Custody
proceedings shall be in accordance with the provisions of Presidential Decree No. 603.
D. Conditions Prejudicial to the Child’s Development.

(a) Any person who shall keep or have in his company a minor, twelve (12) years or under
or who in ten (10) years or more his junior in any public or private place, hotel, motel,
beer joint, discotheque, cabaret, pension house, sauna or massage parole, beach and/or
other tourist resort or similar places shall suffer the penalty of prison mayor in its
maximum period and a fine of not less than Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000.00):
Provided, That this provision shall 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.

(b) Any person who shall induce, deliver or offer a minor to any one prohibited by this Act to
keep or have in his company a minor as provided in the preceding paragraph shall suffer
the penalty of prison mayor in its medium period and a fine of not less than Forty
thousand pesos (P40,000.00); Provided, however, That should the perpetrator be an
ascendant, stepparent or guardian of the minor, the penalty to be imposed shall be
prison mayor in its maximum period, a fine of not less than Fifty thousand pesos
(P50,000.00), and the loss of parental authority over the minor.

(c) Any person, owner, manager or one entrusted with the operation of any public or private
place of accommodation, whether for occupancy, food, drink or otherwise, including
residential places, who allows any person to take along with him to such place or places
any minor herein described shall be imposed a penalty of prison mayor in its medium
period and a fine of not less than Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000.00), and the loss of the
license to operate such a place or establishment.

E. Penalties – Any person who shall violate any provision of this Article shall suffer the
penalty of a fine of not less than One thousand pesos (P1,000) but not more than Ten
thousand pesos (P10,000) or imprisonment of not less than three (3) months but not
more than three (3) years, or both at the discretion of the court: Provided, That, in case
of repeated violations of the provisions of this Article, the offender’s license to operate
shall be revoked.

F. Children as Zones of Peace- Children are hereby declared as Zones of Peace or

protect them. It shall be the responsibility of the State and all other sectors concerned to
resolve armed conflicts in order to promote the goal of children as zones of peace. To
attain this objective, the following policies shall be observed.

(a) Children are not the target of attack and have the right of special respect. Defence from
any sort of attack, abuse, torture or other form of barbaric, inhuman or degrading
treatment;
 (b) Children shall not be recruited from their civilian units or other military organizations to
become members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, nor be authorized to take part
in action or to be employed as guides, couriers or spies;
(c) Delivery of basic social services such as education, primary health and emergency relief
services shall be kept unhampered;
(d) The safety and protection of those who provide services including those involved in fact-
finding missions from both government and non-government institutions shall be
ensured. They shall not in carrying out their job, be subjected to undue harassment;
(e) Public infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and rural health units shall not be utilized
for military purposes such as command posts, barracks, detachments, and supply
depots;
(f) All appropriate steps shall be taken to facilitate the reunion of families temporarily
separated due to armed conflict.

Approved: June 17, 1992

Republic Act 8353: The Anti-Rape Law of 1997

“AN ACT EXPANDING THE DEFINITION OF THE CRIME OF RAPE, RECLASSIFYING THE
SAME AS A CRIME AGAINST PERSONS, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE ACT NO. 3815,
AS AMENDED, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE REVISED PENAL CODE, AND FOR THE
PURPOSES”

A. Republic Act (R.A.) No. 8353- known as the Anti-Rape Law of 1997, which amended
the crime of rape in the Revised Penal Code, it is often difficult for a woman to press
charges because of the evidential rules concerning the crime, or many cases of rape are
being dismissed in courts because victims have to prove beyond reasonable doubt that
there was no consent.
 Consent must not only revolve around the woman’s express refusal to engage in a
sexual activity nor should it be presumed in the absence of overt physical effort to resist
the act of rape. There is a need to resolve when a consent that is freely given is a valid
consent in the context of age (minority) and mental capacity of the woman, among other
circumstances.
 Consent must not only revolve around the woman’s express refusal to engage in a
sexual activity nor should it be presumed in the absence of overt physical effort to resist
the act of rape. There is a need to resolve when a consent that is freely given is a valid
consent in the context of age (minority) and mental capacity of the woman, among other
circumstances.
 Our present law implicitly sets the rightful age of consent to sex at 12 years old while
official data show that majority of victims of rape are aged 13-15 years old. Earlier
initiation of sexual intercourse is strongly associated with sexually transmitted infections,
increased risk for cervical cancer, pregnancy, depression and suicide, and sexual abuse.
Increasing such age of consent to at least 16 years of age will generally provide greater
protection against abuses to girls and minors

Rape- is an inherently violent crime that typically results in physical, social, emotional,
and psychological harm. It remains a prevalent social problem in the Philippines, and
throughout the world.

B. The Anti-Rape Law of 1997, once amended, will become a more effective instrument in
protecting our people, especially the women and the children, from the most heinous
form of sexual violence. The recommendations stated above will transform the law into a
more gender-responsive one as it addresses gaps and lapses which its original crafters
failed to consider. It is hoped that our legislators will prioritize and favour the immediate
enactment of a law to amend the existing Anti-Rape Law provisions, in the interest of
fulfilling their mandate under the Constitution and the Magna Carta of Women, as well as
ensuring the best interest of the child.

C. On the Forgiveness Clause

 The current Anti-Rape Law contains a forgiveness clause that easily exonerates the
offender and poses further danger to the victim. A provision in the law which states that
the “subsequent valid marriage between the offender and the offended party shall
extinguish the criminal action or the penalty imposed” gives an easy way-out for the
offender which incentivizes him to carry out the crime. Once the female victim marries
the offender, she no longer has legal remedy to file an action for the rape that happened
before the marriage. It also recognizes that “if the offender is the legal husband, the
subsequent forgiveness by the wife who is the offended party, shall extinguish the
criminal action or the penalty.” This only perpetuates gender-based violence under the
shroud of marriage which can involve a whole range of abuses - physical, sexual, and/or
psychological - that can happen over a prolonged period of time.

D. Formulation of the Program

As a response to the rising incidence of the Gender-based Violence, the Department of
Social Welfare and Development, in partnership with Agenda Espahola de Cooperation
International para el DeBartolo (AECID), developed the project entitled Comprehensive
Pilot Intervention Plan against Gender Violence in CARAGA (CoPIPAGV 13).
Gender-based violence reflects and reinforces inequities between men and women and
compromises the health, dignity, security and autonomy of its victims. It encompasses a
wide range of human rights violations, including sexual abuse, rape, domestic violence,
sexual assault and harassment, trafficking of women and girls.

E. National Laws, Jurisprudence, and Policies

Article II Section 11 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution provides that “the State values
the dignity of every human person and guarantees full respect for human rights.”
Further, Article Section 14 of the same Article provides that “the State recognizes the
role of women in nation-building and shall ensure the fundamental equality before the
law of women and men”.

F. Penalty – Rape under paragraph 1 of the next preceding article shall be punished by
reclusion Perpetua.
(a) Whenever the rape is committed with the use of a deadly weapon or by two or more
persons, the penalty shall be reclusion Perpetua to death.

(b) When by reason or on the occasion of the rape, the victim has become insane, the penalty
shall become reclusion Perpetua to death.

(c) When the rape is attempted and a homicide is committed by reason or on the occasion
thereof, the penalty shall be reclusion Perpetua to death.

(d) When by reason or on the occasion of the rape, homicide is committed, the penalty shall be
death.
  The death penalty shall also be imposed if the crime of rape is committed with any of the
following aggravating/qualifying circumstances:
RA 8353 imposes the death penalty for rape committed against a person under 18, and the
offender is a parent, ascendant, stepparent, guardian, relative by consanguinity or affinity
within the third civil degree, or the common-law spouse of the parent of the victim; or when
the victim is under the custody of the police or military authorities or law enforcement or
penal institution; or when the rape is committed in full view of the spouse, parent, any of the
children or other relatives within the third civil degree of consanguinity; or when committed
by any member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines or para-military units thereof or the
Philippine National Police or any law enforcement agency or penal institution, when the
offender took advantage of his position to facilitate his commission of the crime.

G. Effect of Pardon – The subsequent valid marriage between the offended party shall
extinguish the criminal action or the penalty imposed.
 The judicial proceeding for rape or the sentence levied shall be terminated if the union
between the accused and the violated party is consequently legitimate. It further notes
that if the defendant is the legitimate partner, the wife's eventual pardon as the offending
party shall bring an end to the criminal proceedings or the punishment, providing that the
union is not invalid.
 The invitation of a rapist to marry the victim of rape can never be an excuse to let them
off easily for separate motives. This encourages perpetrators to compel witnesses of
rape to reach a settlement. It also contradicts the entire intent of reclassifying rape as a
public offense from a private one. "Third, and most significantly, in R.A., the "forgiveness
clause. No. 8353 leads the victim to more risk because it does not recognize the
likelihood that while the rape survivor is married to her rapist, sexual assault will recur.
 Under such a clause of the legislation, women who have been abused before or after
marriage by their husbands are liable to be raped again, locking them in a vicious
physical sexual and/or psychological exploitation loop. Under the shroud of upholding
the sanctity of marriage or shielding their children from a dysfunctional home, the abuser
may coax or compel the wife to condone the abuse of her rights and forgive him.

H. Effectivity – This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after completion of its publication
in two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved: September 30, 1997