BOYS will now have a stronger protection against rape, sexual abuse and exploitation as the move to make laws gender neutral is becoming a reality, with Congress approving the legislative measures amending the existing laws on children.
Lawmakers in the House of Representatives are consolidating three measures into one version, which will be transmitted to the Senate for approval.
A bill seeking to increase the age for determining the commission of statutory rape from 12 to 16 years of age, and other acts of sexual abuse and exploitation to protect children, will amend Republic Act or RA 3815 or the Revised Penal Code. This also includes increasing to maximum penalty the offense for rape by penetration and rape by sexual assault.
The measure also seeks to amend the related RA 7610 or the Special Protection of Children against abuse, exploitation and discrimination and RA 8353 or the Anti-rape law of 1997. In all the measures, the maximum penalties for offenders will apply to both boy and girl victims.
Zenaida Rosales, executive director of the Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Sexual Abuse (CPTCSA), said this is a welcome development. “Boys have been experiencing trauma from rape, sexual assault, abuse and exploitation but society has not paid attention to their plight,” she said.
Rosales said that in the Philippines, sexual violence occurs more often on boys (28.7 percent) than girls (20.1 percent), citing the 2016 National Baseline Study on Violence against Children, the lone government study that surfaced the data for the first time.
The survey also noted that one in four children (24.9 percent) suffer from some form of sexual violence in any setting, and that one in five children aged 13-17 have experienced sexual violence, while one in 25 have experienced rape during childhood.
Rosales said the CPTCSA has established this same data for many years through small-scale research in its regular publication, the Philippine Journal of Child Sexual Abuse (link: https://cptcsaph.org/programs/philippine-journal-of-child-sexual-abuse-pjcsa/) that shares multidisciplinary studies on boys and sexual violence. Anchored on the advocacy to protect boys, Rosales said the CPTCSA aims to encourage families and communities to change how they treat and nurture boys.
“We need to stop the harmful social norms that we impose on boys. We also need to provide them a safe space to talk about their feelings and problems,” said Rosales. “If we change our expectations about boys, we provide them strength and protection from harm.”
Last April, the CPTCSA launched the Blue Umbrella Day (BUD) international campaign to draw attention to the truth about boys and encourage parents, communities and societies to protect boys and nurture them in ways that best support their wellbeing. The campaign hopes to engage the United Nations into adopting the movement into an international day of advocacy.
The CPTCSA is part of the London-based Family for Every Child Global Alliance in initiating the international BUD campaign simultaneously with India, Paraguay, and Guyana. The Philippine BUD campaign is supported by 12 government agencies and six international NGOs.
CPTCSA runs the Rapha Helpline that has trained counselors who offer free online care and support to those in need of psychosocial assistance from 8:00 A.M.-5:00 P.M. on Mondays to Fridays; via Globe (M-F): 0977-6520230; and Viber: Monday: 09617182654; Tuesday and Thursday: 09617182658; and Wednesday and Friday: 09617182655.
