Topics scratch ideas dump

Low age of consent here in the Philippines

- The age of consent here in the Philippines is just 12 years old. Although there is already a bill
wanting to change the age of consent from 12 to 16 waiting to be approved by the Senate Court,
it is still too low. Teenagers at the age of 16 are still very vulnerable to manipulating abusive
adults who wants to take advantage of them. I am not being that kind of person who still
complains even if the government already does something, but this is still very disturbing. The
age of legality, age of appropriate purchase of liquors, and others are at the age of 18. Why can’t
the age of consent, that is very important because it always leads to sexual harassment and
even rape, can not reach up to 18 or even higher?
- One reason is that if the age of consent is low, this would lead to a big number of cases of rape
in the country. More young women, even men, can be a victim of rape. Which is very
unacceptable
- Another reason is that, if there is more rape cases/acts, then there is a higher possibility of teen
pregnancy for young girls that were assaulted. Teen pregnancy becomes a big boulder that
would hinder teen girls to achieve their dreams in the way that they planned.
- Another reason is that yung sa age of legal purchase of liquor and others compared with the age
of consent which is 16 lang. also the age of consent in the Philippines according to law is 12, but
if it would be changed by the new bill to 16, it still doesn’t make sense because the age of legal
marriage is 18. So why is the age of sexual consent, that is very important because it gives way
for rapists to victimize others, lower than the legal age to marry?
- It is very easy for the rapist to say that the victim consented, thus also saying that what he did is
not rape because the victim agreed and consented him. Those chances of false statements of
the accused would decrease if the age of consent would be raised, and that it would equal to
less rape cases that would be considered not rape because the victim gave consent
- Child abuse tourism where adult perpetrators (?? Is this a right word wtf huhu) travel to the
Philippines or any country with a low age of sexual consent so they can /legally/ rape a minor
above 16 years old because it is legal there
 Silence does not always means “yes”: The Age of Statutory Rape

Imagine a 16-year-old, or even a 12-year-old, testifying in court, answering questions, and

recalling haunting memories from the day that they were raped, just to prove the said crime. That would
be traumatizing, right? Unfortunately, this kind of situation had already happened multiple times to
some minors above 12.

Just last week, September 27, 2021, for the third hearing, the Philippine Senate voted
unanimously in favor for the Senate Bill No. 2332, known as the End Child Rape Bill. The said bill would
make amends to the age of consent stated on the Republic Act No. 8353 of 1997, or the Anti-Rape Law.
If approved, this will raise the age of legal sexual consent from 12 to 16. I am not being that kind of
person who still complains even if adjustments were already done nor wanting to be one, but as a
teenager, a woman, a Filipino citizen, and a person, I believe that the age of consent should not be just
raised to 16, but should be raised up to above 18 instead.

Determining a higher age of consent for statutory rape on a country protects any adolescent
from abuse, exploitation, and harassment by old adults wanting to take advantage of them. It fails its
objective if any minor had experienced rape and the offender was not held guilty of the crime. The low
age of consent makes it easier for the offender to get away from his crime by giving him the ability to
claim that the victim gave consent, and thus the accusations of the victim were false. This gives more
chance to the offender to abuse and harass more adolescents and prevents the victim from getting the
rightful justice they deserve. According to the National Baseline Study on Violence Against Children
done by the Council for the Welfare of Children and UNICEF Philippines on 2015, 17.1% of adolescents
aged 13-17, regardless of gender, experienced any type of sexual abuse while growing up, and about
3.2% of them experienced forced consummated sex (oral, anal, and/or vaginal). Imagine the trauma
these young children still have because of these old individuals.

Speaking of, the tender minds of these young adolescents are still not ripe enough to make
decisions about his/her sexual activities. A statement from a study made on California on 2014 says that
“The hormonal shift at the onset of puberty not only affects physical maturation, but also influences the
brain – activating changes in emotions, goals, and motivations” thus, further supporting this idea.
Numbers of studies prove that the rational thinking part of a person’s brain would not fully develop
until the age of 25. In the Philippines, you can only get married, sign contracts, and purchase alcohol
once you become 18, can only get a driver’s license once you become 17, and can already become
criminally liable once you become 15. Yet, why can children at the age of 12-16 can already give legal
consent to have sex with an adult? This says a lot about the inappropriate age of consent the
government is trying to imply.

Furthermore, a low minimum age of consent gives way for the cases of rape to increase more in
our country. If there are more adolescents getting victimized by rape, this leads to more chances for
young females to have a teenage pregnancy. In fact, according to Undersecretary Juan Antonio Perez III
on one of the hearings for various Teenage Pregnancy Bills, there are about 130,000 babies, with a
mother aged 19 and below, that are fathered by a 20 and above aged man. The Commission on
Population and Development said that most of the young mothers were apparent victims of sexual
assault and rape. Due to an unwanted event to a young girl with a dream of a bright future, her life
would not be as bright as she wanted it to be anymore because of the opportunities taken away from
her.

Another additional reason why the government should raise the age of consent to 18 is the
obscure occurrence of child abuse tourism (CST). This is defined by the tourism of perpetrators to
different countries for the purpose of child pornography, child prostitution, and also child sexual abuse.
Since the 1990s, men from North America, Europe, Australia, Japan, and Korea have been traveling here
to the Philippines to engage in child rape, and in such acts. These events have been suggested to be
attributed to the country’s poor and weak child rape protection laws. One of the many cases of this in
the Philippines happened at the small town of Pagsanjan, Laguna in 2007, where the authorities
investigated 22 foreign male individuals for the suspected production of child pornography, drug abuse,
and sexual abuse to the children. It has been recorded that they have abused 590 children between the
ages of 7 to 17. International offenders think that the Philippines is an easy place to commit such
heinous crimes due to the weak protection laws implemented here.

The bright youth of today has so much potential to thrive and flourish in the future time. But
what if the leaders of our country fail to protect them from the malevolent hands of spiteful
perpetrators? I believe that the age of consent should be raised up to 18 instead, and not just up to 16.
Based on the given information above, a huge amount of damage would be experienced by our youth
today, physically and mentally. We should not wait for more children to get hurt, abused, and taken
advantage of just to realize that the current proposed age of statutory rape is not enough to protect
them. We should raise it up to 18 now and not waste any more time. It has been long overdue, and no
child must be sacrificed anymore.
 Silence does not always mean “yes”: The Age of Statutory Rape

Imagine a 16-year-old, or even a 12-year-old, testifying in court, answering questions, and

recalling haunting memories from the day that they were raped, just to prove the said crime. That would
be traumatizing, right? Unfortunately, this kind of situation had already happened multiple times to
some minors above 12.

Just last week, September 27, 2021, for the third hearing, the Philippine Senate voted
unanimously in favor of Senate Bill No. 2332, known as the End Child Rape Bill. The said bill would make
amends to the age of consent stated on the Republic Act No. 8353 of 1997, or the Anti-Rape Law. If
approved, this will raise the age of legal sexual consent from 12 to 16. I am not being the kind of person
who still complains even if adjustments were already done nor wanting to be one, but as a teenager, a
woman, a Filipino citizen, and a person, I believe that the age of consent should not be just raised to 16,
but should be raised to above 18 instead.

Determining a higher age of consent for statutory rape in a country protects any adolescent
from abuse, exploitation, and harassment by old adults wanting to take advantage of them. It fails its
objective if any minor had experienced rape and the offender was not held guilty of the crime. The low
age of consent makes it easier for the offender to get away from his crime by giving him the ability to
claim that the victim gave consent, and thus the accusations of the victim were false. This gives more
chance to the offender to abuse and harass more adolescents and prevents the victim from getting the
rightful justice they deserve. According to the National Baseline Study on Violence Against Children
done by the Council for the Welfare of Children and UNICEF Philippines in 2015, 17.1% of adolescents
aged 13-17, regardless of gender, experienced any type of sexual abuse while growing up, and about
3.2% of them experienced forced consummated sex (oral, anal, and/or vaginal). Imagine the trauma
these young children still have because of these old individuals.

Speaking of, the tender minds of these young adolescents are still not ripe enough to make
decisions about their sexual activities. A statement from a study made in California in 2014 says that
“The hormonal shift at the onset of puberty not only affects physical maturation, but also influences the
brain – activating changes in emotions, goals, and motivations” thus, further supporting this idea.
Numbers of studies prove that the rational thinking part of a person’s brain would not fully develop until
the age of 25. In the Philippines, you can only get married, sign contracts, and purchase alcohol once you
become 18, can only get a driver’s license once you become 17, and can already become criminally liable
once you become 15. Yet, why can children at the age of 12-16 already give legal consent to have sex
with an adult? This statement says a lot about the inappropriate age of consent the government is trying
to imply.

Furthermore, the low minimum age of consent gives way for the cases of rape to increase more
in our country. If more adolescents would be victimized by rape, this leads to more chances for young
females to have a teenage pregnancy. In fact, according to Undersecretary Juan Antonio Perez III on one
of the hearings for various Teenage Pregnancy Bills, there are about 130,000 babies, with a mother aged
19 and below, that are fathered by a 20 and above aged man. The Commission on Population and
Development said that most of the young mothers were apparent victims of sexual assault and rape.
Due to an unwanted event for a young girl with a dream of a bright future, her life would not be as
bright as she wanted it to be anymore because of the opportunities taken away from her.

Another reason why the government should raise the age of consent to 18 is the obscure
occurrence of child abuse tourism (CST). This is defined by the tourism of perpetrators to different
countries for the purpose of child pornography, child prostitution, and also child sexual abuse. Since the
1990s, men from North America, Europe, Australia, Japan, and Korea have been traveling here to the
Philippines to engage in child rape, and such acts. These events have been suggested to be attributed to
the country’s poor and weak child rape protection laws. One of the many cases of CST in the Philippines
happened in the small town of Pagsanjan, Laguna in 2007, where the authorities investigated 22 foreign
male individuals for the suspected production of child pornography, drug abuse, and sexual abuse to
children. It has been recorded that they have abused 590 children between the ages of 7 to 17.
International offenders think that the Philippines is an easy place to commit such heinous crimes
because of the weak protection laws implemented here.

The bright youth of today has so much potential to thrive and flourish in the future time. But
what if the leaders of our country fail to protect them from the wicked hands of spiteful perpetrators? I
believe that the age of consent should be raised to 18 instead, and not just up to 16. Based on the given
information above, a huge amount of damage would be experienced by our youth today, physically and
mentally. We should not wait for more children to get hurt, abused, and taken advantage of just to
realize that the current proposed age of statutory rape is not enough to protect them. We should raise
the age of consent to 18 now and not waste any more time. It has been long overdue, and no child must
be sacrificed anymore.

References

https://www.jurist.org/news/2021/09/philippines-senate-unanimously-raises-age-of-sexual-consent-
from-12-to-16/

https://www.unicef.org/philippines/media/491/file/National%20Baseline%20Study%20on%20Violence
%20Against%20Children%20in%20the%20Philippines:%20Results%20(executive%20summary).pdf

https://escholarship.org/content/qt2r32c3q1/qt2r32c3q1.pdf?t=p0w5t5

https://www.onenews.ph/articles/rise-in-teenage-pregnancies-apparently-due-to-seduction-sexual-
abuse-popcom

https://popcom.gov.ph/popcom-number-of-girls-10-14-y-o-who-give-birth-continue-to-rise/

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=humtrafconf2