ANALYSIS OF SC DECISIONS ON RAPE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT:

Assessing Their Compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women (CEDAW) Mandate to Eliminate Gender Discrimination and Promote Gender Equality

NOTES:
It assessed whether the doctrines and pronouncements made by the Court in these cases
comply with the PH’s mandate under the CEDAW to eliminate gender discrimination and
promote gender equality.
The obligations in the CEDAW need to be reflected, not only in a de facto environment, but also
in laws and jurisprudence, for their full realization and implementation. A legal framework that
facilitates the removal of barriers which cause discrimination of women by addressing the
difference forms of violence perpetrated against them is crucial to the achievement of gender
equality.
MAGNA CARTA OF WOMEN (RA 9710) – 2009
SEC. 9. Protection from Violence. — The State shall ensure that all women shall be protected from all
forms of violence as provided for in existing laws. Agencies of government shall give priority to the
defense and protection of women against gender-based offenses and help women attain justice and healing.

This study focuses of the role of jurisprudence in promoting gender equality through case law. It
also analyzes the SC’s views on the prosecution of offenses and the ordeal that the involved
parties have undergone.
The Court has expressly acknowledged that rape victims suffer a generally harrowing ordeal during trials, which,
our previous study has found, adds to the stigmatization and double victimization of the victim, to wit:

 Courts have taken judicial notice that it is not easy for women to report the commission
of rape and other acts of violence against their persons
 Lack of sensitivity, as well as gender bias, often result in the blaming of the victims –
feeling exposed and humiliated.
The experience of double victimization affects their ability to access the justice system. If the
remedies to redress their grievances remains hostile to the victims/survivors, then the justice
system becomes less accessible and less available for them. In turn, it can be a situation
that could result in the perpetuation of more gender-based violence since no one is being
held accountable.
Court’s duty to reflect the change that women must be believed on the basis of an appreciation
of their own testimony and other evidence and not on how chaste or how well their reputation is.
Because courts interpret the law and those in charge of enforcing it relies on jurisprudence for
guidance.
Definition of rape is problematic as it does not categorically state that the offense is committed
when there is sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent.
The manner by which the lack of consent is manifested has been defined, and to an extent,
limited by the circumstances enumerated in the law. Which needs proving at least one of the
circumstances for the commission of rape, and even sexual assault.
“Putting lack of consent as the primary element of the definition of rape.”
It becomes a problem when mature women, in possession of their full cognitive faculties, when
manifesting their non-consent to sexual intercourse, as enunciated in People vs Dulay.
“The law on rape in the 1970s required that resistance to rape should be tenacious”
“The victim’s fear of the rapist of incapacity to give valid consent”
NOW, the law provides that resistance may be proved by any physical overt act in any degree
from the offended party”

“The court has referred to rape as defloration” – diminishes the gravity of the violation involved
in rape and sexual abuse cases. + it also stigmatizes the victim by robbing their chance to
“blossom”

Rape and sexual assault survivors deserve better treatment, including an accurate depiction of
the wrong committed against them.
“Using the word defloration leads to gender stereotypes that women are delicate, fragile and
weak”

Stereotyping
Child victims are innocent and therefore unlikely to make stories about rape
In stereotyping them, the courts risk failing to make more nuanced observations and distinctions
about and between child victims

Aside from youth and immaturity, child victims have been further attributed with the following
motivations for telling the truth. – the possibility of shame befalling them was also the motivation
attributed for the credibility of the offended parties
To attribute the children’s credibility to a profound sense of justice and further rule that risking
double victimization is also proof of truthful testimony is inaccurate. – it is more plausible for the
parents to feel the hurt and sense of retribution – not the children (as motivation for speaking
out)
Therefore, victims who do not fit the stereotype of a credible witness find themselves with the onus of showing
additional proof to qualify as credible.

- The court pronounced that such behavior and responses (as to testifying), while not
expected in children, are to be expected from adult, mature or experienced women
Although the Court may have correctly ruled that “different people react differently to a given stimulus or type
of situation, and there is no standard form of behavioral response when one is confronted with a strange or
startling or frightful experience,” it seems that as far as rape and sexual assault cases are concerned, there is a
“standard form” of behavior: on one hand, that which is expected from young
and immature girls; on the other, that which is expected from mature women.

In connection, Notably, these pronouncements about stereotypical mature women being more consistent in
testifying, less fearful of threats, and less likely to delay reporting crimes, as compared to girls, are mostly
applied to rape and sexual assault cases only.

Double victimization
In one case, the Court stated that “no woman would concoct a story of defloration, allow an examination
of her private parts and submit herself to public humiliation and scrutiny via an open trial, if her sordid tale was
not true and her sole motivation was not to have the culprit apprehended and punished.

Acknowledging what transpires during trial and characterizing the proceedings as perverse, humiliating,
disgraceful, and stigmatizing are not enough.

*Courts should adopt gender and child-sensitive criminal proceedings

Women and children should be able to access justice without fear of being re-victimized and
stigmatized.
This analysis also shows that the court proceedings and examinations expose victims and their families to great
embarrassment and social censure. The mere fact that one has been raped places a stigma
on the victim despite the fact that she was unwillingly violated.

In effect, there was less social repercussions on the perpetrator who has been acquitted than there were
on the victim herself regardless of the final outcome of the case. In these instances, the court seems to display
insensitivity to gender and child issues as shown in the language and manner of interrogation.

How much resistance is a mature woman required to show and how often, before she is
believed?