It's legal to have sex with a 12-year-old in the Philippines. Activists are trying to change that

Child sexual abuse is rampant in the Philippines, which activists say is partly driven by the country's low age of consent -- just 12 years old.

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. He would put a long knife near her face during the abuse, and threaten to kill her mother and brother if she reported him, she said. Terrified and ashamed, she didn't speak out for a year and a half -- until a school teacher saw her with a black eye and notified the police.