The Philippines is the world’s largest source of livestreamed child sex abuse, according to UNICEF – but children are also being abused offline at home.

In the cases against Cheves, Jane said that she first communicated with Cheves through the dating app “Bumble” when she was just around 12 years of age. The bill does allow legal consent for younger teens under 16 as long as their partners are also close in age; for instance, a 13-year-old can consent to sex if the age difference with their partner does not exceed two years. I felt like the justice system failed me at some point,” she said. “Even though I wanted to fight for justice, I felt like I had to sacrifice something – the trauma that I have to experience over and over again.” The DOJ said the charges against the Spaniard were filed by the Office of the City Prosecutor (OCP) of Taguig City following the conduct of a preliminary investigation of the complaint filed last March 12 by Jane (not her real name), a 16-year-old exclusive school student.

We are confident and ready to face whatever is hurled against pastor Quiboloy and the kingdom leaders,” said the statement, which was attributed to an unnamed church legal counsel and accused “dissidents” of bringing up the charges to destroy Quiboloy. “We trust the process of justice and we certainly expect the truth to prevail and the kingdom ministry will continue to prosper.” Its supporters hope the bill has a better shot of being passed due to growing public awareness of the issue and a newly sympathetic Congress. I felt hopeless,” said Acupinpin, now 23. “It felt like I had nowhere to go because it’s my family who was hurting me. I didn’t know anyone who could really help me.”

She had already endured years of beating and physical violence from her mother and stepfather, she said – but then he took it a step further. If the bill, which includes clauses to make the process less traumatic for victims and provides a harsher penalty for those found guilty, had been law during her childhood, she said she would have pursued the case to the end. The law protects predators, critics say, because they can claim victims consented – and children as young as 12 can often be coerced or threatened into silence. Quiboloy and the others also are accused of bringing church members to the U.S. with fraudulently obtained student visas or sham marriages to solicit donations for the church's charity, based in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale. In the Philippines, we have about one woman or child raped every 53 minutes,” said Rep. Arlene Brosas of the Gabriela Women’s Party, citing 2016 data from non-profit organization Center for Women’s Resources. “We believe it is much worse – especially that child victims of sexual abuse are very prevalent.”After decades of lobbying to change the age of consent, it has never felt more possible or more needed than now, said Brosas.