Draft Criminal Code submitted by the Department of Justice to the House of
Representatives.4
In the views on the Karen Tayag Vertido vs. Philippines (Communication No. 18/2008)
adopted by the CEDAW Committee on July 16, 2010,5 the CEDAW Committee
recommended that the Philippine anti-rape law should center on the lack of consent as the
core of the definition of rape.6
A.1. Denial of Access to Emergency Contraceptives for Rape Survivors
While over 130 countries have registered emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) that can
prevent pregnancy resulting from rape, the Philippines has no registered ECPs. Postinor,
the only previous ECP registered, has been delisted since 2001.7 Many health care
providers, social workers, police officers, and lawyers are not aware that rape victims can
use different methods of emergency contraception such as the Yuzpe method using the
combined oral contraceptives and dedicated ECPs. Even the current language of the
Reproductive Health Law (RH Law) restricts the access of rape victims to ECPs by
disallowing national government hospitals from purchasing ECPs8 thereby leaving only
the local government hospitals to purchase and dispense ECPs.
A.2. Denial of Access to Post-Exposure Prophylaxis for Rape Survivors
Many government HIV testing and counseling centers are not aware that rape victims can
prevent HIV transmission by availing of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) within three
days from the rape with the 28-day regimen of anti-retrovirals.
A.3. Denial of Access to Safe and Legal Abortion for Rape Survivors
The Philippines has one of the most restrictive abortion laws around the world that does
not even allow access to safe and legal abortion for rape victims.9
A.4. Lack of Access to DNA Analysis
While rape incidence throughout the country is high, there is only one PNP DNA
laboratory and one National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) DNA laboratory for the whole
country. There are very few PNP medico-legal officers and very few social workers,
psychiatrists, and psychologists who provide psycho-social counseling for rape survivors.
It is even very common for girl rape victims to wait three months before they receive any
form of psycho-social counseling.10 While Republic Act 8505 requires rape crisis centers
to be set up in every province and city, many provinces and cities have not established
their rape crisis centers.
A.5. Denial of Access to Sexuality Education that Tackles GBV and human rights
The sexuality education required under the RH Law can prevent rape incidence by
tackling GBV and women’s human rights, but the Department of Education (DepEd) is
2