PH leading in child sexual exploitation, says Remulla after meeting UN rapporteur

The Philippines is leading in child sexual exploitation, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said on Thursday.

Remulla thus told reporters after he met Mama Fatima Singhateh, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children, who paid him a courtesy call.

Asked about the status of online sexual exploitation in the country, Remulla said, "We’re No. 1 in the world."

"Dapat mawala na ito. Yun ang effort talaga ng gobyerno ni Pangulong Marcos na itigil na itong status ng Pilipinas na nangunguna tayo sa child sexual exploitation,” Remulla said.

(We're number 1 in the world. This should be gone. The Marcos administration is making efforts to stop the Philippines’ status on being the leading country in child sexual exploitation.)

Remulla said he gave Singhateh "an official letter" to tell her what the Philippines was doing to combat child sexual exploitation.

"Actually, we've declared war on this. It's the first thing we did since the inception of the Marcos regime," Remulla said of the government's campaign against child sexual exploitation.

United Nations Special Rapporteur Mama Fatima Singhateh on Thursday bared that the Philippines remained to be a source and place for child trafficking, sale, sexual abuse, and forced marriage and labor, among others.

In a news conference, Singhateh presented the preliminary findings of her 11-day visit to the Philippines.

She said there was a lack of explicit legal provision in the Constitution to penalize the exploitation of children for travel and tourism.

“The Philippines remains a source and destination country for child trafficking, sale, sexual abuse, and forced marriage… and forced labor," Singhateh said.

"There’s a lack of all limited information on the scale of incidents of child trafficking victims and how victims are exploited," she added.

Singhateh said there might be an under-reporting of child victims of sale and sexual exploitation in the country as the definition and distinction between these terms are “inadequate.”

She recommended a distinction in the law between the sale of children and child trafficking.

Singhateh also pointed out that child marriages still happened in some indigenous and ethnic communities due to their culture and social exclusion, and other reasons.

“I look forward to more information on how the new Act will be implemented and enforced, and what measures will be put in place by the government to address the many reasons why child marriage is prevalent,” Singhateh said.

She was referring to the Republic Act 11596 or An Act Prohibiting the Practice of Child Marriage and Imposing Penalties for Violations Thereof signed by former President Rodrigo Duterte in 2021.

Recalling her visits to several child homes and shelters and crisis intervention centers in the country, Singhateh emphasized the need for more support on financial and human resource aspects to address the needs of the children in these institutions. 

“I’ll be recommending the establishing of a children’s home exclusively dedicated to providing an accommodating and caring for all child victims of sexual abuse and exploitation, where all the services are provided for the children in the same place under one roof,” she continued.

Moreover, Singhateh pointed out the country’s need for a centralized data system that would collect the sexual abuse data in the country age, gender, ethnicity, and disability, as well as the number of cases reported and the convicted cases.

She also raised concerns about the lack specially trained prosecutors in the justice system to handle cases of child abuse. She then recommended the establishment of a child protection unit within the prosecution department or the appointment of a child protection focal point to deal with these cases.

Singhateh suggested the setting up of child-specific courts in the country to particularly focus on handling their cases, and the strict application of the one-day hearing on child sexual abuse and exploitation. 

She said the tourism industry lacked information to prevent sexual exploitation.

The Department of Tourism (DOT) said there's a law to prevent child abuse in the country, especially in the tourist destinations, according to “24 Oras” report on Thursday.

The department said they also have training in the DOT-accredited resorts and hotels to capture the perpetrators.

It added that there is also a hotline to immediately contact hotels and resort personnel.

Sim Card Registration Law

Remulla asked the Senate and the Congress to speed up on working the SIM Registration Act's implementing rules and regulations (IRR) in order to capture the perpetrators in online sexual exploitation among children.

“I will ask the Congress—the Senate and the House—-to speed up the working out of the IRR para sa Sim Card Registration para immediately maging executory na at ma-identify na natin lahat ng perpetrators,” he said.

(I will ask the Congress—the Senate and the House—to speed up the working out of the IRR for SIM Card Registration so that it can immediately become executory and we can identify all the perpetrators.)

“Kasi habang ganyan ang nangyayari, prepaid pa rin ang ginagamit nila mga data plans ng telco sa karamihan ng mga kaso ng child online sexual exploitation at sa pagbubugaw ng mga bata,” he added.

(While that is happening, they are still using prepaid telco data plans for child online sexual exploitation.)

The SIM Registration Act's IRR is set to be released on December 12 in time for the law's effectivity on December 27, 2022, according to Maki Pulido’s “24 Oras” report.

The National Telecommunications Commissions (NTC) drafted the IRR and had scheduled a public hearing on December 5.

Under the draft IRR, a SIM card user may register his number within six months, which may be extended for four more months.

However, it will be automatically deactivated if the SIM card is not registered within the given period. The NTC said there will be a penalty for those who will give false information during registration.

The Philippine National Police's (PNP) data showed more than 7,000 cybercrime cases recorded from March to November 2021, the number has increased to over 12,000 cases this year.

The PNP earlier said the text scammers have become active before the implementation of the SIM registration law IRR on December 27.

Meanwhile, Remulla said there is also a need to check the law on money laundering to see the payment methods of those who engage in online sexual exploitation among children.

“Yung sa $1, $2 hanggang $10 na bayad hindi sila sakop ng mga limitations eh ng money laundering kaya ang hirap hulihin,” he said. —NB, GMA Integrated News