The Quezon City Police District (QCPD) reported a 66.67% increase in violence against women and children (VAWC) cases and a 21.54% increase in rape cases.

QCPD Director BGen. Antonio Yarra reported an increase in VAWC and rape cases in the first eight months of the year compared to the same period last year.

He also noted that the pandemic played a significant role in the upward trend, as most families are at home.

This was compounded by the financial difficulties experienced by many families, resulting in domestic conflict.

Most of the recorded cases were of physical abuse, with psychological abuse a distant second.

“We have launched a campaign to make women aware of their rights and make them advocates so they will be encouraged to report abuses,” he said.

QC Mayor Joy Belmonte expressed concern on the issue and rallied victims or their relatives and friends to report such abuses through the QC Protection Center Hotline 122, or to the barangay and QCPD women’s desk.

She also directed concerned local authorities to closely monitor and act swiftly on calls and reports pertaining to VAWC and other gender-based incidents.

“We cannot let any QCitizen suffer from gender-based violence in Quezon City especially during the pandemic,” she said.

Belmonte reported that the Quezon City government together with the QCPD are set to launch a unified information management system to facilitate the monitoring and hasten the investigation of VAWC cases. –AAC

The Senate Committees have approved the proposal to increase the statutory rape age to 16.

The Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights and the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality approved the proposed measure on Thursday (October 10). Aside from the increase in the statutory rape age, the age for sexual consent was also raised from 12 to 16.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, one of the authors of the bill, said it is time to amend the law especially due to the increase of sexual violence cases among children.

“As legislators, we need to ensure that our children are protected and that we set measures that will mitigate if not totally eradicate these alarming cases and statistics on sexual violence against children and teenage pregnancies,” Zubiri said.

The Philippines currently has the age of sexual consent at 12 which is the lowest in Asia and among the lowest in the world. -AAC (with reports from Harlene Delgado)

Close to five proposed bills had been filed in the Senate that seek to amend the age covered under statutory rape in the Philippines.

Under the Anti-Rape Law of 1997, statutory rape occurs when a child age 12 or below engages in sexual intercourse, be it with consent or coerced.

Under the existing law, children under 12 do not have the capacity to give consent.

This prompted Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri to file a bill seeking to increase the age from 12 to 15 years old.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian’s version, on the other hand, wants to elevate it to 18 years old.

Gatchalian said the age of majority in the Philippines is 18, when an individual can enter into a contract and begin to enjoy the right to vote.

“Consequently, the age of majority should also be considered as the proper age in terms of giving sexual consent,” he added.

Gatchalian believes that increasing the statutory rape age to 18 will address the prostitution problem among young people.

In other countries such as the United States, the legal age of consent is between 16 and 18.

And like Canada and Australia, the Philippines set the age of consent to 16.

Meanwhile, the Center for Women’s Resources said more than 52,000 rape and attempted rape cases had been recorded from 2005 to 2014.

A very significant number of this (75%) have children as victims.

Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, on the other hand, showed that between 2012 and 2014, rape cases in the country were on the uphill.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development, meanwhile, said of the more than 2,000 cases of child abuse recorded, 539 were done sexually.

The lawmakers believe that it is high time to amend the law to further protect the youth, especially young children, from abuse. (from the report of Nel Maribojoc) /mbmf