NEWS | Philippines sees surge in online child pornography amid pandemic
By Alexandra Kate Ramirez
While the country is yet to curb the spread of COVID-19, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) reported a surge in suspicious transaction reports (STRs) related to child pornography as the Philippines went on varying degrees of quarantine restrictions brought about by the pandemic. Trying to make ends meet, some students resorted to selling sensual materials online in order to finance their education, thereby prompting lawmakers to strengthen laws with the aim of protecting minors from sexual exploitation.
Skyrocketing cases of child exploitation
In its public bulletin titled Child pornography in the Philippines, the AMLC stated that the volume of STRs related to child pornography rose to 27,217 from January to June 2020 alone, which is 2.5 times larger than the 10,627 cases of STRs for the entire 2019.
“The report also revealed a possible existence of organized crime groups and syndicates involved in child exploitation activities due to multiple links between senders and beneficiaries. Child pornography in the Philippines is predominantly cross-border in nature, but localized setting is also evident because of the domestic remittances related to child pornography,” AMLC explained.
It was also revealed that the number of local recipients of child pornography-related remittances, in terms of volume and value, was highest in Pampanga, which was then followed by Cebu, Bulacan, Cavite, and Quezon City. According to AMLC, the total worth of STRs related to child pornography went up to P113.1 million in 2020 from P65.8 million in 2019.
Meanwhile, Deputy Speaker Bienvenido Abante Jr. urged the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to avert the sale of the required equipment in producing child pornography through online shopping platforms as more children could fall victim to sexual exploitation due to strict quarantine measures as well as the rising demand for online child pornography.
“These figures the AMLC shared are only for the first half of 2020, and they reflect a tragic reality in our country: while the pandemic is raging outside, inside thousands of homes, Filipino children are being exploited and abused,” Abante exclaimed.
Lawmakers seek probe
On Jan. 8, Rizal 2nd District Representative Fidel Nograles enjoined the Congress to immediately address the proposed measures, which seek to strengthen Republic Act №9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009. Nograles, who authored House Bill No, 7633 or the Anti-Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children Act of 2020, sought to amend Section 9 of R.A. 9775 amid the proliferation of STRs related to child pornography.
“We have to place measures to protect our children even from themselves. We have to act so that children are not forced to prostitute themselves because of their needs,” Nograles said in a statement.
Section 9 of the said law currently allows internet service providers (ISP) to install available technology, program, or software that could block access to or transmittal of child pornography as well as notify authorities within seven days of detection of any internet address that may contain child pornography.
However, Nograles noted that the same provision also states that “nothing in this section may be construed to require an ISP to engage in the monitoring of any user, subscriber or customer, or the content of any communication of any such person.”
The country’s top telco operators consequently stressed that the section effectively hampers them from fully performing their duties under the law, particularly monitoring and blocking websites that contain child pornography.
Meanwhile, Senator Imee Marcos on Jan. 7 filed Senate Resolution №604, which calls upon the Senate to investigate continuing reports on online sex offenses in the Philippines. She stated that incidents concerning sexual abuse and exploitation among children could possibly worsen amid the anticipated post-holiday surge in COVID-19 cases on top of fears over its new variant, which was recently detected in the country.
“The delay in face-to-face classes will continue to expose grade school and high school children to these local and foreign sexual predators lurking on the internet,” Marcos stated.
DepEd’s patent insensitivity
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture, called on the Department of Education (DepEd) to reinforce its child protection efforts, noting that cases relating to online abuse should be reported to government agencies and non-government organizations (NGOs) by respective Child Protection Committees (CPC) in educational institutions.
Although having expressed its “deep alarm” over the circumstances, the DepEd repeatedly claimed that students are not required to own gadgets or have internet access in order to participate in distance learning since other mediums, such as printed modules, television, and radio, are made available.
Moreover, DepEd Undersecretary for Curriculum and Instruction Diosdado San Antonio even asserted in a television interview that the previous grading period was a success, thereby neglecting the countless struggles of students, parents, and teachers alike under the current learning set-up.
“I think our first quarter was held without many glitches so we can also say that the distance learning delivery modality was successfully implemented in the first quarter,” San Antonio said in Filipino.
Consequently, the National Union of Students in the Philippines (NUSP) slammed DepEd for concluding that the first quarter of the current academic year (AY) was successful, arguing that the agency’s leadership is obviously ignorant of the real situation of educational stakeholders.
“If the success that San Antonio refers to is success in torturing educational stakeholders, they were truly successful in their neglect and were deaf to the calls and grievances of students, parents, and teachers,” NUSP National President Jandeil Roperos asserted.
