Migz: Bill raising statutory rape age gets bicam nod

The Senate and the House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a compromise version of the bill raising the age for determining statutory rape from 12 to 16 years of age.

“No one should become a victim of rape or of sexual violence, moreso our young and innocent children,” said Senate Majority Leader Migz Zubiri.

“So I have taken this issue as a personal advocacy—as a parent, as a Christian, and more importantly as a legislator,” he said.

“I’m very grateful to all my colleagues, particularly Senators Sonny Angara, Risa Hontiveros, and Lito Lapid, for assisting me and trusting me to shepherd this bill through the Senate,” Zubiri said.

Along with increasing the age of sexual consent, the bill also amends the language of the law to be gender-responsive and to reflect that rape is committed by a “person who shall have carnal knowledge of another person”, rather than the previous language that defines rape as being between a man and a woman.

“We are really gunning for the passage of this bill into law before this Congress ends,” Zubiri said.

“A lot of groups and advocates like Unicef have been waiting for this, so I am very happy that we are at this stage, about to conclude a very important and relevant piece of legislation towards the protection of our children,” he said.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)