CEDAW/C/PHL/7-8
Anti-Rape Law includes “absence or lack of consent” in the core definition of the
crime of rape; removal of the forgiveness clause in marital rape; and, increasing the
age of statutory rape from 12 to 16 years old.
18. In a parallel effort, the State Party, through the DOJ Criminal Code
Committee, is conducting public hearings for Book II of the dra ft Philippine Code
of Crimes to replace the RPC. Under Book II, relevant provisions being closely
monitored pertain to the decriminalization of prostituted women.
The Women’s Priority Legislative Agenda (WPLA)
19. To orchestrate its legislative advocacy for every Congressional term, the State
Party, through the PCW, formulated a Women’s Priority Legislative Agenda
(WPLA) based on the MCW and the Philippine Plan for Gender-Responsive
Development (PPGD). It also took into consideration the concluding comments of
CEDAW. The matrix below shows the progress in the legislative advocacy for the
passage or repeal of laws to correct discrimination against women in three
congressional terms through the WPLA: 2007-2010; 2010-2013; 2013-2016.
2007-2010
(14th Congress)
2010-2013
(15th Congress)
2013-2016
(16th Congress)
Amendments to Revised
Penal Code (RPC):
♦ Retained in the WPLA
(makes procurers, pimps,
and customers of women
for sex criminally-liable
instead of the women in
prostitution)
♦ Retained in WPLA
(1) Article 202 on
Prostitutes has been
removed in the final draft
of the new criminal code
(Philippine Code of
Crimes Book 2, Final
draft as of 19 November
2013) along with the
provision on Article 341
or the white slave trade.
Bills on Anti-Prostitution
have also been filed in
both Houses of Congress
(i.e., SBN 1655, 445,
1608 and HB 406)
♦ Retained in the WPLA
♦ Retained in WPLA as
marital infidelity bill
(2) Articles 333 and 334
on Adultery and
Concubinage have been
merged in the final draft
of the new criminal code
(Philippine Code of
Crimes Book 2, Final
draft as of 19 November
2013) through a proposed
section on “sexual
infidelity”. Bills amending
Articles 333 and 334 on
Adultery and Concubinage
have also been filed in the
Senate and House of
♦ Anti-Prostitution Bill:
Amendment to Article 202
on Vagrancy and
Prostitutes
♦ Sexual Infidelity Bill:
Amendment to Articles
333 and 334 on Adultery
and Concubinage
15-03079
Status of Legislative Initiatives
5/36