PHL among top producers of child pornography, international task force says

International agencies are now closely monitoring the Philippines for the production and online trade of pornographic materials involving children.

               

The Philippines is among the top ten countries with rampant cyber pornographic activities involving mostly boys and girls age 10-14, according to Virtual Global Taskforce (VGT), a group of international agencies against child pornography. 

            

In a briefing, PNP Anti-Cyber Crime Group (ACG) chief Police Senior Superintendent Gilbert Sosa said that based on their monitoring, cybercrime dens have been operating in almost all parts of the country since 2012, most especially in Luzon and Cebu.
 

According to a report on GMA News TV's "Quick Response Team" aired Friday, the police are monitoring 18 provinces in Luzon. Authorities are paying particular attention to Metro Manila and Angeles City in Pampanga.

 

The police are also looking at six provinces in Visayas including Cebu and Cagayan De Oro, and seven in Mindanao where most of these pornographic activities are done.  

These multi-billion-dollar cyber activities, the PNP said, include live streaming—where children do lewd sexual acts upon the requests of customers—that costs $100 per hour and the production and sale of pornographic videos and photos that usually cost P1,000 each.

Most patrons are from the United States of America and European countries, police said.

                

"May mga kaso tayo na yung mga magulang mismo ang nagpa-facilitate ng sex exploitation ng mga bata," Sosa said.

                 

In 2011, the PNP launched Project Angel Net, which aims to protect children against cyber trafficking, cyber stalking, cyber bullying and child pornography. Sosa said more needs to be done to intensify their campaign against child pornography. One of the ways to do that is to strengthen coordination with international agencies, he said.

                

Sosa also called for the lifting of the Temporary Restraining Order issued by the Supreme Court on some provisions of the Cybercrime Law to make it easier for them to get private information from telecommunications companies.

 

Sosa said it is hard to monitor more than 30 million internet users in the country especially those using prepaid services.

"Under that law, the telcos are required to retain their data or log files within the period of six months, e since naka TRO, walang legal basis para magcomply sila," he said.

 

He also urged the public to report unusual internet activities within their neighborhood.

                

Malacañang meanwhile expressed concern over the issue and said that the government is now in close coordination with international agencies.

"The government has already committed itself to doing everything that needs to be done," Secretary Herminio "Sonny" Coloma, chief of the Presidential Communications Operations Office, said in a press briefing.

 

Newly-appointed National Bureau of Investigation Director Virgilio Mendez said they are likewise working hard to address this concern especially in Cebu.

"Our (NBI) people in Cebu are very aggressive in this kind of concern," he said. — Elizabeth Marcelo/JDS, GMA News