Anti-Rape Law of 1997, Republic Act No. 8353 (Philippines)

The crime of rape has been reclassified from a crime against chastity to a crime against person under the Act. The Act also broadens the crime of rape by including acts which are committed by any person who shall commit sexual assault by inserting his penis into another person’s mouth or anal orifice, or any instrument or object, into the genital or anal orifice of another person. It introduced the concept of the effect of pardon, which is the subsequent valid marriage between the offended party and the victim, which shall extinguish the criminal action or penalty imposed.