Seventeenth Congress
Second Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. 6088

Introduced by Representative Ruby M. Sahali

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This bill seeks to further expand the definition of the crime of rape,
amending for the purpose Act No. 3815, as amended, otherwise known as the
“Revised Penal Code.”

In 1997, Republic Act No. 8353, otherwise known as the “Anti-Rape Law
of 1997” was passed to amend the crime of rape under the Revised Penal Code.
Although the amendment classified rape as a crime against persons rather than a
crime committed against honor, there are still issues which require further
strengthening of the law to address the concerns of women rape victims.

Presently, a woman rape victim encounters difficulty in filing charges
because of the evidential rules concerning the crime of rape. More often, cases
of rape are being dismissed in courts due to inability to prove beyond
reasonable doubt that there was no consent. Consent must not only revolve
around the woman’s express refusal to engage in a sexual activity nor should it
be presumed in the absence of overt physical effort to resist the act of rape.

The proposed measure is anchored on numerous jurisprudence of the
Supreme Court which based its decisions on stereotype notion that a rape victim
must employ physical resistance to counter sexual assaults. Likewise, the
Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW) noted that “there should be no assumption in law or in practice that
a woman gives her consent because she has not physically resisted the
unwanted sexual conduct, regardless of whether the perpetrator threatened to
use or used physical violence.”

The proposed bill, therefore, enumerates circumstances manifesting
resistance against the act of rape although the rape victims did not exert physical
effort to counter unwanted sexual conduct. Consent shall not be presumed
under these circumstances: 1) when the victim expressed verbal resistance; 2)

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when the victim did not express verbal and/or physical resistance out of fear
from physical harm and death threats; 3) when the victim has been drugged,
intoxicated or otherwise unconscious during the commission of the act of rape;
and 4) when the victim did not express any form of resistance due to physical
and mental incapacity.

In view of the foregoing, passage of this bill is earnestly sought.

RUBY SAHALI

Lone District — Tawi-Tawi


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Seventeenth Congress
Second Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. 6088

Introduced by Representative Ruby M. Sahali

AN ACT
FURTHER EXPANDING THE DEFINITION OF THE CRIME OF
RAPE, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE ACT NO. 3815, AS
AMENDED, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE “REVISED PENAL CODE”

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Article 266-A of the Revised Penal Code, as amended, is
hereby further amended to read as follows:

“ART. 266 — A. Rape, When and How Committed. —
Rape is committed —

1. By [a man] ANY PERSON who shall have carnal
knowledge of [a woman] ANOTHER PERSON WITHOUT THE
LATTER’S CONSENT under any of the following circumstances:

a. Through force, threat or intimidation;
b. When the offended party is deprived of reason

or is otherwise unconscious;

c. By means of fraudulent machination or grave
abuse of authority;
d. When the offended party is under twelve (12)

years of age or is demented, even though none of the

circumstances mentioned above be present.

2, By any person who, under any of the circumstances
mentioned in paragraph 1 hereof, shall commit an act of sexual
assault by inserting [his] THE penis, FINGER OR ANY PART OF


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THE BODY, into another person’s mouth or anal orifice, or any
instrument or object, into the genital or anal orifice of another

person.”

SEC. 2. Article 266-D of the same Code, as amended, is hereby further

amended to read as follows:

“ART. 266-D. Presumptions. — Any physical overt act
manifesting resistance against the act of rape in any degree from
the offended party, or where the offended party is so situated as to
render him/her incapable of giving valid consent, may be accepted
as evidence in the prosecution of the acts provided under Article
266-A.

THE ABSENCE OF PHYSICAL RESISTANCE MUST
NOT BE TAKEN AS CONSENT ON THE PART OF THE
OFFENDED PARTY BUT ANY OF THE FOLLOWING
CIRCUMSTANCES MANIFEST RESISTANCE AGAINST THE
ACT OF RAPE:

A. WHEN THE VICTIM EXPRESSED VERBAL
RESISTANCE;

B. WHEN THE VICTIM DID NOT EXPRESS
VERBAL AND/OR PHYSICAL RESISTANCE OUT OF FEAR
FROM PHYSICAL HARM AND DEATH THREATS;

C. WHEN THE VICTIM HAS BEEN DRUGGED,
INTOXICATED, OR OTHERWISE UNCONSCIOUS DURING
THE COMMISSION OF THE ACT OF RAPE; OR

D. WHEN THE VICTIM DID NOT EXPRESS ANY
FORM OF RESISTANCE DUE TO PHYSICAL AND MENTAL
INCAPACITY.”

SEC. 3. All laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations and other

issuances or parts thereof which are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act

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are hereby repealed, amended or modified accordingly.

SEC. 4. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in
the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,