Akbayan Party-list Representative Dadah Kiram Ismula has authored a new legislative measure aimed at repealing the “forgiveness clause” within the Revised Penal Code, which currently allows sexual assault perpetrators to escape criminal prosecution.
Filed under the 20th Congress, House Bill No. 10099 seeks the total removal of Article 266-C of the Revised Penal Code. Under the current law, legal liability for rape is wiped away if the perpetrator marries the victim, or if a wife forgives her husband who assaulted her.
The newly elected lawmaker from Mindanao strongly criticized the existing law, labeling it a disgrace.
“Rape is a grave crime. Marriage should never be used to shield the rapist from accountability and condemn the survivor to a lifetime of hell,” she said in a statement Sunday, July 19.
“Nakakahiya na nasa batas pa rin natin ito. Panahon na para i-amend ang ating batas para sa dignidad ng mga victim survivors ng rape,” she added.
Ismula emphasized that victims must be protected from societal or familial pressure to marry their abusers just to halt legal proceedings.
The proposed legislation also seeks to amend interconnected provisions of the penal code to guarantee that neither a later marriage nor a personal pardon can clear individuals guilty of sexual violence.
The explanatory note of HB No. 10099 points out that the forgiveness loophole perpetuates an archaic and damaging belief that a wedding or a pardon can undo the psychological damage of sexual assault.
The bill further notes that the current statute effectively forces survivors to stay bound to their victimizers, fuels continuous cycles of domestic abuse, and provides a loophole for criminals to escape justice.
”Such a legal mechanism undermines the seriousness of rape as a crime and diminishes the rights and dignity of women,” the authors wrote.
Joining Ismula as co-authors of the reform bill are Akbayan Representatives Chel Diokno and Perci Cendaña, along with Kaka Bag-ao, the lone district representative of the Dinagat Islands.