Dear PAO,  

I am a ghost writer for local romance book authors. A few weeks ago, a fan managed to track me down. I agreed to have lunch with her out of respect. I do not know what exactly happened, but I think this woman slipped my cola with some kind of sedative. When I awoke, this crazed fan was on top of me, forcing me to have sexual intercourse, while I was slipping in and out of consciousness. When I woke up, she was already gone. I went to the police immediately afterwards, but they told me that I could not file a rape case because I am a man and the perpetrator is a woman. Is that really the case?    

Xahir

Dear Xahir,  

Yes, you can file a rape case against the person who took advantage of you, even if she is a woman.

Indeed, the Supreme Court, speaking through Associate Justice Marvic M.V.F. Leonen, in the case of Annabelle Maliclic vs. People of the Philippines (G.R. No. 280727, February 4, 2026), explained that even men can now be raped by women in light of the new law, viz.:  

“In the previous text of the law, rape under Section 266-A(1) was limited to a man inserting his penis into a woman’s vagina, while rape under Section 266-A(2) only covers insertions of the penis or any object into another person’s genital or anal opening. Thus, there is a void where the penalized act is committed by a woman who, without consent, puts a man’s penis into her vagina. In this case, while the elements of carnal knowledge and lack of consent are present, the gendered, language of the law automatically excludes the crime committed within the ambit of rape.

However, Republic Act 11648, passed into law on March 4, 2022, not only raised the age of consent to 16 years old, but it also revised the wording of Section 266-A to state that rape may be committed “by a person who shall have carnal knowledge of another person[.|”  

Article 266-A. Rape; When and How Committed. — Rape is committed:  

1) By a person who shall have carnal knowledge of another person under any of the following circumstances: xxx  

The use of “person” in the law instead of specifying the perpetrator’s gender theoretically allows for the commission of rape even by women.”  

Here, if your allegations are proven true, you were raped when your female attacker apparently drugged you, depriving you of your reason, and forced you to engage in sexual intercourse. It does not matter anymore whether you are a man or a woman, or whether the perpetrator is a man or a woman, since the law uses the word “person” without any distinction as to sex.

This development departs from the traditional misogynistic view of the crime of rape by disregarding the sex of the offender or the victim as a determining factor and focusing instead on the prohibited act itself.  It is a significant step toward a truly gender-neutral application of the law on rape.  After all, men can also be victims of sexual violence too.

We hope that we were able to answer your queries. This advice was solely based on the facts you have narrated and our appreciation of the same. Our opinion may vary when other facts are changed or elaborated.

Thank you for your continued trust and support.

Editor’s note: Dear PAO is a daily column of the Public Attorney’s Office. Questions for Chief Acosta may be sent to [email protected]