05/07/2026
SUPREME COURT: R**E THROUGH CARNAL KNOWLEDGE CAN NOW BE COMMITTED BY WOMEN OFFENDERS AGAINST MEN VICTIMS
The Supreme Court (SC) clarified that the crime of r**e by sexual in*******se can now be committed by a woman, saying the offense became gender-neutral following the enactment of Republic Act No. 11648 in 2022, which amended the Revised Penal Code and the Anti-R**e Law.
In a recent ruling, the SC sustained the conviction of 25-year-old Annabell Maliclic for statutory acts of lasciviousness after she forced her 11-year-old nephew into sexual in*******se.
The court said that while the offense was prosecuted under the law in effect at the time it was committed, Republic Act No. 11648 now recognizes that r**e by sexual in*******se may be committed by either a man or a woman.
The Regional Trial Court and Court of Appeals initially found Maliclic guilty of "lascivious conduct" under R.A. No. 7610. The high court modified her conviction as it ruled that because the victim was under 12 years old and legally incapable of consent, the proper crime is statutory acts of lasciviousness under Article 336 of the Revised Penal Code.
It explained that r**e through carnal knowledge is no longer legally limited to a male offender and a female victim, as the new amendments stipulated in RA No. 11648 use gender-neutral language: R**e may be committed “by a person who shall have carnal knowledge of another person.”
The SC emphasized the clear intent of the legislation, which technically includes women who may now be held criminally liable for r**e through carnal knowledge, and a man may be legally recognized as a r**e victim, provided that all the elements required by Article 266-A of the Revised Penal Code are established.
It underscored that the anti-r**e law before the passage of R.A. No. 11648 in 2022 only referred to r**e as committed “by a man” against “a woman.”
The highest bench noted that not recognizing men as victims of r**e by sexual in*******se is not only misogynistic but also disenfranchises male victims, who have less legal redress despite suffering the same trauma. It said that the failure to recognize that males can be victims likewise impairs their ability to recognize that they have been violated in the first place.
Nevertheless, it emphasized that the new amendments cannot be applied in Maliclic's case, as the crime was committed in 2018 or before R.A. No. 11648 took effect in 2022. It cited the prospectivity principle, which provides that criminal laws generally cannot be applied retroactively when unfavorable to an accused.
