National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents arrested a 19-year-old man for allegedly raping a minor.
According to the NBI, the man and the 12-year-old girl met while chatting on social media.
The girl said she told her parents she would just buy something at the store, but the man allegedly invited her to meet at her friend’s house, which ended up having a drink.
According to the suspect, the girl told him she was 16 years old.
“Siya ang nagyaya na magsama kami sa kuwarto. Tapos siya rin ang nagsabi na patayin ko ang ilaw bago matulog. Nagulat ako na niyakap niya ako tapos hinalikan ako. Lalaki lang ako,” the suspect said.
(She invited us to be in the room together. Then she also told me to turn off the light before going to sleep. I was surprised that she hugged me and then kissed me. But, of course, I’m just a man.)
But according to the NBI, the suspect’s arguments are nonsense.
“Hindi katanggap-tanaggp ang reason na ‘yan considering na ang victim ay dose anyos at ‘yung circumstance na pinainom pa nila,” said Bernard dela Cruz, executive officer of NBI Special Task Force.
12-year-old allegedly raped by man she met in chat
(That reason is unacceptable considering that the victim was twelve years old and the circumstance that they made her drink.)
The suspect is in custody in the rape case.
The NBI is also investigating whether the suspect’s friends should also be charged.
In September 2020, the Commission on Population and Development (POPCOM) expressed support to Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri’s bill raising the statutory rape age to 16 years old in the Philippines.
Currently, the statutory rape age in the Philippines is only 12 years old.
POPCOM chief Juan Antonio Perez III noted during the Senate budget hearing for 2021 that the teenage pregnancy for 10 to 14 years old in the country is increasing.
Perez stressed that older men impregnated most teenage mothers in the Philippines.
“There’s an element of power play or exploitation here because it’s older men who are the partners of these young [women]. The proposal of Senator Zubiri to bring up the age of consent to 16 or 18 would at least scare off these predators,” he said.
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