LAST MONTH police operatives from Pasig arrested a man (one Mr. De Guzman) for having sexual relations with a fourteen-year-old girl whom he met in Facebook.
The man caught the girl’s interest when he befriended her using the profile picture of a “good-looking man.” They exchanged messages which included nude pictures and videos of the girl who got lured into online intimacy with the suspect.
Mr. De Guzman used the videos and photographs to blackmail the girl into having actual physical relations with him.
***
Mr. De Guzman will certainly be indicted for statutory rape regardless of whether the girl consented to the sexual union.
The crime of statutory rape is committed when someone has sexual relations with a minor who has not reached the age of consent.
Under Republic Act No. 11648, passed in March this year, rape is committed when the offended party is under sixteen years of age.
For almost a century the age of sexual consent in the Philippines had been pegged at twelve years of age. If Mr. De Guzman had relations with the 14-year-old girl last year, when the age of consent was 12, he would not be charged with statutory rape.
***
A twelve-year-old child has barely gone through puberty. They are not physically and mentally prepared for possible reproduction.
It can even be argued that people below eighteen years of age do not have a full grasp of the consequences of their actions. Being of tender age, the possibility of sexual abuse is very high.
There is wisdom behind mandating the minimum age for marriage at eighteen years. The Family Code even requires parental consent for marrying at twenty-one or less.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros is credited with authoring the legislation required to bring the Philippines to the international average of 16. It took decades for the country’s legislative arm to amend the 1930s vintage Revised Penal Code.
***
There is an exception to liability under this amendment.
RA 11648 provides that “there shall be no criminal liability on the part of a person having carnal knowledge of another person 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…”
This is the so-called “Romeo and Juliet” clause. Teenagers in a love affair are exempt from coverage provided that the age gap between them is not more than three years.
A 17-year-old having sexual relations with a 15-year-old will not be prosecuted under this provision. Consensual sex between them is considered legal. On the other hand, a 19-year-old having sexual relations with a 15-year-old will not be as fortunate.
***
RA 11648 also amends RA 7160 by defining other acts of abuse that can endanger a child’s development.
For instance, it is a crime for a person to be in the company of a minor sixteen years of age or under or who is ten years or more their junior in any public or private place, hotel, motel, beer joint, discotheque, cabaret, pension house, sauna or massage parlor.
The penalty is prision mayor in its maximum period (ten to twelve years of imprisonment) and a fine of not less than fifty thousand pesos (P50,000).
Being in those places with children below the age of consent may only be excused if one is related to the child within fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity or “any blood recognized by law, local custom and tradition or acts in the performance of a social, moral or legal duty.”/PN
