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Act No. 8353The Anti-Rape Law of 1997
REPUBLIC
ACT
NO. 8353 AN ACT
EXPANDING THE
DEFINITION OF THE CRIME OF RAPE, RECLASSIFYING THE SAME AS A CRIME
AGAINST
PERSONS, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE ACT NO. 3815, AS AMENDED, OTHERWISE
KNOWN
AS THE REVISED PENAL CODE, AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES.
Be
it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
Philippines
in Congress assembled:
Section 1. Short
Title. - This Act shall be known as "The
Anti-Rape
Law of 1997."
Sec. 2. Rape as a
Crime Against Persons. - The crime of
rape
shall hereafter be classified as a Crime Against Persons under Title
Eight
of Act No. 3815, as amended, otherwise known as the Revised Penal Code.
Accordingly, there shall be incorporated into Title Eight of the same
Code
a new chapter to be known as Chapter Three on Rape, to read as follows:
"Chapter Three
"Rape
"Article 266-A. Rape: When And How Committed. - Rape is
committed:
"1) By a man who shall have carnal knowledge of a woman under any of
the
following circumstances:
"a)
Through force, threat, or intimidation;
"b) When the
offended party is deprived of reason or otherwise
unconscious;
"c) By means of
fraudulent machination or grave abuse of authority; and
"d) When the
offended party is under twelve (12) years of age or
is demented, even though none of the circumstances mentioned above be
present.
"2) By any person who, under any of the circumstances
mentioned in
paragraph
1 hereof, shall commit an act of sexual assault by inserting his
penis into another person's mouth or anal orifice, or any instrument or
object, into the genital or anal orifice of another person.
"Article 266-B. Penalty.
- Rape under paragraph 1 of the next
preceding
article shall be punished by reclusion perpetua.
"Whenever the
rape is committed with the use of a deadly weapon or by
two
or more persons, the penalty shall be reclusion perpetua to death.
"When by reason
or on the occasion of the rape, the victim has become
insane,
the penalty shall become reclusion perpetua to death.
"When the rape
is attempted and a homicide is committed by reason or on
the occasion thereof, the penalty shall be reclusion perpetua to death.
"When by reason
or on the occasion ofthe rape, homicide is committed,
the
penalty shall be death.
"The death
penalty shall also be imposed if the crime of rape is
committed
with any of the following aggravating/qualifying circumstances:
"l) When the victim is under eighteen (18) years of
age and the
offender
is a parent, ascendant, step-parent, guardian, relative by
consanguinity
or affinity within the third civil degree, or the common-law spouse of
the parent of the victim;
"2) When the
victim is under the custody of the police or military
authorities
or any law enforcement or penal institution;
"3) When the
rape is committed in full view of the spouse, parent, any
of the children or other relatives within the third civil degree of
consanguinity;
"4) When the
victim is a religious engaged in legitimate religious
vocation
or calling and is personally known to be such by the offender
before
or at the time of the commission of the crime;
"5) When the
victim is a child below seven (7) years old;
"6) When the
offender knows that he is afflicted with the Human
Immuno-Deficiency
Virus (HIV)/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) or any other
sexually
transmissible disease and the virus or disease is transmitted to the
victim;
"7) When
committed by any member of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
or para-military units thereof or the Philippine National Police or any
law enforcement agency or penal institution, when the offender took
advantage
of his position to facilitate the commission of the crime;
"8) When by
reason or on the occasion of the rape, the victim has
suffered permanent physical mutilation or disability;
"9) When the
offender knew of the pregnancy of the offended party at
the
time of the commission of the crime; and
"10) When the
offender knew of the mental disability, emotional
disorder
and/or physical handicap of the offended party at the time of the
commission
of the crime.
"Rape under
paragraph 2 of the next preceding article shall be punished
by prision mayor.
"Whenever the
rape is committed with the use of a deadly weapon or by
two
or more persons, the penalty shall be prision mayor to reclusion
temporal.
"When by reason
or on the occasion of the rape, the victim has become
insane,
the penalty shall be reclusion temporal.
"When the rape
is attempted and a homicide is committed by reason or on
the occasion thereof, the penalty shall be reclusion temporal to
reclusion
perpetua.
"When by reason
or on the occasion ofthe rape, homicide is committed,
the
penalty shall be reclusion perpetua.
"Reclusion
temporal shall be imposed if the rape is committed with any
of the ten aggravating/ qualifying circumstances mentioned in this
article.
"Article 266-C. Effect
of Pardon. - The subsequent valid
marriage
between the offended party shall extinguish the criminal action or the
penalty imposed.
"In case it is
the legal husband who is the offender, the subsequent
forgiveness
by the wife as the offended party shall extinguish the criminal action
or the penalty: Provided, That the crime shall not be extinguished or
the
penalty shall not be abated if the marriage is void ab initio.
"Article
266-D. Presumptions. - Any physical overt act manifesting
resistance
against the act of rape in any degree from the offended party, or where
the offended party is so situated as to render her/him incapable of
giving
valid consent, may be accepted as evidence in the prosecution of the
acts
punished under Article 266-A."
Sec. 3. Separability
Clause. - If any part, Sec., or
provision
of this Act is declared invalid or unconstitutional, the other parts
thereof
not affected thereby shall remain valid.
Sec.
4. Repealing Clause. - Article 336 of Act No. 3815, as amended,
and all laws, acts, presidential decrees, executive orders,
administrative
orders, rules and regulations inconsistent with or contrary to the
provisions
of this Act are deemed amended, modified or repealed accordingly.
Sec. 5. Effectivity.
- This Act shall take effect fifteen
(15)
days after completion of its publication in two (2) newspapers of
general
circulation.
Approved: September 30, 1997.
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