Filipino child sex trafficker nabbed in Dubai arrives in PH

Accused pedophile Teddy Mejia arrived in the Philippines on Thursday following his arrest in Dubai on child sex trafficking charges.

According to a 24 Oras report by Emil Sumangil on Thursday, Mejia faced the media in a press conference on Wednesday with officials of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benhur Abalos.

Mejia is accused as the mastermind behind the sexual trafficking and online exploitation of over 100 minors nationwide, and faces charges for several counts of rape, online sexual exploitation of children, and human trafficking.

Women and Child Protection Center chief General Portia Manalad said that the suspect often targeted and blackmailed young children online, making them victims of physical abuse and rape that was livestreamed on his media platforms.

“Isa sa pinakamalaki itong kasong ito at isa sa pinaka-nakakatakot at pinaka-nakakapangamba. Yung bata na parating nasa internet ay kinakausap nila, and then they will offer pera is like 500 pesos para bigyan siya ng pictures. Ika-crop nila yung pictures and magmumukha na yung bata ay nakahubad,” said Manalad.

(This is one of the biggest cases and one of the scariest and concerning. They talk to children who are always on the internet, and they will offer cash of around P500 to get their photos. They will crop these images so it would seem like the child was naked.)

“Pagkaganoon na, iba-blackmail na nila. Mayroong physical abuse or rape na mangyayari sa bata.  Ivi-video pa nila or ila-livestream nila at ito yung binebenta nila online. Tatlong channels ang meron siya at sa bawat channel, 30,000 ang kanyang mga subscribers,” she added.

(Once this happens, they will blackmail them. Physical abuse or rape occurs to the child. They even take videos or livestreams of this, and that’s what they would sell online. They have three channels and each channel has around 30,000 subscribers)

Abalos said that the victims were often profiled as younger children around ages of 9 to 10, and were often loners or smart children.

“From June 2023 to February 2024, nagkaroon po ng rescue [operations] at naka-rescue po tayo ng almost 30 na bata.  Ito po ay isang large scale violation o syndicated, dahil pito po silang magkakasama dito,” shared Manalad.

From June 2023 to February 2024, we had rescue [operations] and we were able to rescue almost 30 children. This is a large scale violation or syndicated, because there are seven of them involved here.)

“Nagiging epicenter po yung Philippines sa ganitong online sexual exploitation. Mayroon tayong weakness – we are victims…  (The Philippines has become an epicenter for online sexual exploitation. We have a weakness— we are victims…) Kulang po tayo ng capability to look into the dark web.  We have an agreement with the (United Arab Emirates) that they will help us build [an] internet capability or application to look into the dark web,” added PNP chief General Rommel Marbil.

Mejia was immediately transferred to Camp Crame following the press conference.

Aside from Mejia, four of the seven suspects in the syndicate are in police custody.—Jiselle Anne Casucian/RF, GMA Integrated News