SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian reiterated the need to raise the age of sexual consent and to amend the law on statutory rape.

Gatchalian earlier proposed raising the age of sexual consent to 18 when he filed Senate Bill 739.

The age of consent in the Philippines is 12, the lowest in Asia and the second lowest in the world.

“Sa ating bansa, itinuturing nating age of majority ang edad na 18 ngunit ang age of sexual consent ay edad na 12. Dapat lang na amyendahan na ang batas upang maprotektahan natin ang mga kabataan at panagutin ang mga nang-aabuso sa kanila,” Gatchalian said in a statement on Sunday.

The Commission on Population and Development earlier said that some teenagers are victims of child abuse and the cases of teenage pregnancy in the Philippines surged in 2019.

POPCOM Executive Director Juan Antonio Perez III said two out of three of the partners of these adolescents at risk are older by 20 years so there is a degree of power play.

He added that an analysis of the 2019 data from the Philippine Statistics Authority would suggest that there were 10,000 cases of statutory rape.

Gatchalian earlier warned that the Covid19 pandemic could exacerbate domestic child violence and abuse.

Of the 13,923 cases of violence against women and children recorded from March 15 to November 30 last year when restrictions posed challenges to rescue efforts, 4,747 were cases of violence against children, according to the Philippine Commission on Women.

POPCOM recently reported that pregnancies among minors aged 10-14 increased by 7 percent in 2019.

Teenage mothers are more prone to abuse, according to the National Demographic and Health Survey, which reported that 26.4 of married women aged 15-19 reported experiencing physical, sexual, and emotional violence.