In a bid to protect children from rape and sexual abuse, the Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte signed a bill raising the minimum age of sexual consent from 12 to 16 years old on Monday.

According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Philippines had one of the world's lowest minimum ages for sexual consent until recently, trailing Nigeria's age of 11.  Seven out of ten rape victims in the Philippines were children, according to a 2015 study by UNICEF and the Center for Women's Resources, a local non-governmental organisation. According to the survey, one in every five 13 to 17-year-olds has suffered sexual violence, and one in every 25 has had forced consummated intercourse as a child.

Unless the age difference between them was three years or less and sex was proven to be consensual, neither abusive nor exploitative, under the gender-neutral measure endorsed by Duterte, any adult engaging in sexual contact with anyone 16 or under would be committing statutory rape. If one of the parties involved was under the age of 13, the exemption does not apply.

"We applaud this legislative breakthrough and hope that it will aid in the protection of young girls from rape and sexual abuse," said Josalee Deinla, a spokesperson for the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers, which provides legal assistance to the Philippines' poor and underprivileged. One of the bill's key sponsors, Lawrence Fortun, called it "a huge step forward."

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