A public school teacher was arrested after authorities allegedly caught him having sex with his 15-year-old student in a classroom in Aglipay, Quirino, on Wednesday.
According to the town’s police chief Capt. William Agpalaza, the 39-year-old teacher and the minor student, were caught lying on the floor when cops entered the classroom at around 3 in the afternoon.
He added three condoms were found in the room.
Agpalaza said the student’s relatives asked the police for assistance after learning about the child’s relationship with the teacher.
Currently, the minimum age of consent in the Philippines is 12 years old. Sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 12 is defined as rape under Chapter 3, Article 266 of the Anti-Rape Law of 1997.
However, a bill aiming to raise the age of sexual consent in the Philippines to 16 years old has been approved by the House panels on the welfare of children and revision of laws.
The bill consolidated the ten versions of the proposed measure, which were pending at the committee level.
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Teacher caught having sex with student in classroom
If the proposed bill was signed as a law, any adult who would engage in sexual activity with a child below 16 years old would be guilty of rape. This is regardless of whether the minor gave his or her consent, such as the case of this teacher and minor student caught having sex.
The proposed bill states that consensual, non-abusive, and non-exploitative sexual activity with a minor below 16 years old would not be considered statutory rape in the following conditions are met:
- The parties are 14 years old or above, and the age difference does not exceed 4 years
- Where the sexual activity involves a minor below 14, the age difference does not exceed 3 years
Meanwhile, someone could still claim statutory rape if he or she is above 16 years old and has physical, mental, or psychological disability or condition that renders him or her inability to understand consent or the consequences of any sexual activity fully.
The approved bill on raising the age of consent in the Philippines also added that subsequent marriage would not extinguish criminal action for rape nor the penalty imposed as opposed to what the Anti-Rape Law of 1997 provided.