Erotically cold, hard, and pale: A study on the legal plausibility of necrophilia congressional bills

• Main Authors: Alvarez, Charlene G., Fernandez, Marinelle M.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2014
• Subjects: Necrophilia > Philippines; Dead bodies (Law) > Philippines; Sex crimes > Philippines; Commercial Law
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/18271
• Institution: De La Salle University

Filipinos afford their deceased loved ones with great respect despite their absence in the physical world and treats them as if they are still alive and among us. In 2011, Senator Manny Villar proposed a bill criminalizing necrophilia and incorporating it among acts of rape in order to penalize those who morbidly derive sexual gratification by copulating with corpses emphasizing that such acts done to a lifeless body does not make it any less detestable and heinous. It was later on refiled in 2013, by House Representatives Diosdado Macapagal Arroyo and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The move made by our lawmakers in order to provide our dead with more protection under our laws is very noble indeed, nevertheless it must still adhere with our existing legal principles. The researchers focused on the bill's incorporation of acts of necrophilia among the acts of rape penalized under the Revised Penal Code which was amended by R.A. 8353. After analyzing related provisions in the 1987 Constitution, the revised Penal Code, and the Civil Code, and journals on necrophilia, sexual crimes, ethics, and Filipino burial customs, the researchers found that it is not legally plausible to incorporate necrophilia among acts of rape nevertheless such heinous acts must be punished for grossly desecrating the dead as well as disrespecting the feelings of the living. This paper provided a draft of the necrophilia bill proposed by the researchers criminalizing such acts as a special law wherein the scope of punishable necrophilic acts were broaden, imposed lesser damages and length of service, and suggested mandatory rehabilitation for the offenders.