Philippines raises age of sexual consent from 12 to 16 – By Reuters (NBC News) / March 7, 2022
In what one of its sponsors called “a major step forward,” President Rodrigo Duterte signed the bill into law in a bid to protect minors from rape and abuse.
MANILA, the Philippines — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law a bill that raises the minimum age of sexual consent from 12 to 16, his office said on Monday, in a bid to protect minors from rape and sexual abuse.
The Philippines until now has had one of the world’s lowest minimum ages of sexual consent, behind Nigeria’s age of 11, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
A joint 2015 study by UNICEF and the Center for Women’s Resources, a local nongovernmental group, showed seven of 10 rape victims in the Philippines were children.
One in five respondents ages 13 to 17 reported experiencing sexual violence, while one in 25 experienced forced consummated sex during childhood, the study said.
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