Assistance and Protection for Rape Victims

The Act establishes the State policy to provide necessary assistance and protection for rape victims.
The government must coordinate its various agencies and nongovernment organizations to establish and operate rape crisis centers in every province and city.
Government and NGOs must work hand in hand for litigation support and recovery services for rape victims.

Every province and city must have a rape crisis center established through the collaboration of specified government departments and a lead NGO.
The following agencies and a lead NGO must establish the centers: the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Department of Health (DOH), the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and a lead NGO with proven track record or experience in handling sexual abuse cases.
Each rape crisis center must be located in a government hospital or health clinic or in any other suitable place.
The Act designates DSWD as the lead agency in the establishment and operation of each rape crisis center.

Rape crisis centers must provide psychological counselling, medical and health services, including medico-legal examination for rape victims.
Rape crisis centers must secure free legal assistance or service when necessary for rape victims.
Rape crisis centers must assist rape victims in the investigation to hasten the arrest of offenders and the filing of cases in court.
Rape crisis centers must ensure the privacy and safety of rape victims.
Rape crisis centers must provide psychological counselling and medical services whenever necessary for the family of the rape victims.
Rape crisis centers must develop and undertake a training program for:
- law enforcement officers,
- public prosecutors,
- lawyers,
- medico-legal officers,
- social workers, and
- barangay officials,
  on human rights and responsibilities, gender sensitivity and legal management of rape cases, and related training for effective handling of rape cases.
Rape crisis centers must adopt and implement programs for the recovery of rape victims.

Upon receipt of a complaint for rape, police must immediately refer the case to the prosecutor for inquest/investigation if the accused is detained; otherwise, the rules of court apply.
Upon receipt of a complaint for rape, police must arrange counselling and medical services for the offended party.
Upon receipt of a complaint for rape, police must immediately make a report on the action taken.
The police officer or examining physician must be of the same gender as the offended party to ensure that only persons expressly authorized by the offended party are allowed inside the room where the investigation or medical or physical examination is being conducted.

The Act requires that a women’s desk must be established in every police precinct throughout the country.
The women’s desk must provide a police woman to conduct investigation of complaints of women rape victims.
The Act requires that preliminary investigation proper or inquest for women rape victims must be assigned to female prosecutor or prosecutors after police endorse all pertinent papers to the same office.

At any stage of the investigation, prosecution, and trial of a rape complaint, the police officer, prosecutor, court and its officers, and the parties must recognize the right to privacy of the offended party and the accused.
The police officer, prosecutor, or court may order a closed-door investigation, prosecution, or trial when necessary for fair and impartial proceedings and after considering all circumstances for the best interest of the parties.
When a closed-door order is issued, the name and personal circumstances of the offended party and/or the accused, or any other information tending to establish their identities, and such circumstances or information on the complaint must not be disclosed to the public.
The investigating officer or prosecutor must inform the parties that proceedings can be conducted in a language or dialect known or familiar to them.

In prosecutions for rape, evidence of the complainant’s past sexual conduct, opinion thereof, or reputation must not be admitted.
Past sexual conduct evidence may be admitted only when the court finds it material and relevant to the case.
Past sexual conduct evidence may be admitted only to the extent the court finds it material and relevant.

For the establishment and operation of rape crisis centers during the first year of implementation, PHP 120,000,000.00 is charged against the Organizational Adjustment Fund.
The first-year funding allocation is PHP 60,000,000.00 for the DSWD.
The first-year funding allocation is PHP 20,000,000.00 each for the DOH, DILG, and DOJ.
Thereafter, necessary funding must be included in the agencies’ annual General Appropriations Act budgetary allocations.

Within 90 days from the approval of the Act, all concerned agencies must formulate rules and regulations necessary for proper implementation.
If any part, section, or provision is declared invalid or unconstitutional, the remaining parts not affected remain valid through the Act’s separability clause.
All laws, acts, presidential decrees, executive orders, administrative orders, rules and regulations inconsistent with or contrary to the Act are deemed amended, modified, or repealed accordingly through the Act’s repealing clause.