Answer
Article 266-A of the Revised Penal Code, as amended, defines rape as committed in two distinct modes. The first is rape by carnal knowledge — committed by a man who has carnal knowledge of a woman through force, threat, or intimidation; when she is deprived of reason or unconscious; through fraudulent machination or grave abuse of authority; or when she is below the statutory age even if none of these circumstances is present. The second is rape by sexual assault — committed by inserting the penis into another person's mouth or anal orifice, or an instrument or object into the genital or anal orifice of another person.
The two modes carry different penalties, with rape by carnal knowledge treated more severely. Republic Act No. 8353 reclassified rape as a crime against persons and introduced the sexual-assault mode, and Republic Act No. 11648 later raised the age used for statutory rape. Which mode applies determines the elements the prosecution must establish.
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