Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 23) — The government is declaring a war on sexual abuse and exploitation of children — a crisis exacerbated by pandemic lockdowns and new technologies, Cabinet members said on Tuesday.
The officials vowed in an inter-agency press briefing to intensify efforts to protect minors, especially against online sexual exploitation, as they pointed out that the Philippines is the top global source of the multi-billion dollar child pornography industry.
“We’re declaring a war on this,” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said, promising closer coordination among government agencies.
According to a 2016 study by the United Nations International Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF), eight out of 10 Filipino children are vulnerable to becoming victims of online sexual abuse or bullying.
The COVID-19 pandemic has also posed heightened risks to minors who are forced to stay at home with family members who may be abusers.
The Department of Justice earlier reported that cases of online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) rose by 264% during the imposition of the enhanced community quarantine from March to May 2020, compared to the same period in 2019.
This is a serious problem that appears to have long been overshadowed by other matters, including graft and corruption, the drug war, and more recently, the pandemic, according to Secretary Erwin Tulfo of the Department of Social Welfare and Development Secretary (DSWD).
“Right now, this administration is keen and very serious in stopping this,” he said. “So, tama si Secretary Remulla, tama si Secretary (Benhur) Abalos [So, Secretary Remulla is correct, as well as Secretary Abalos] and everybody here in this room. We are declaring war against this.”
The Cabinet officials said they are also working with international partners to address the issue.
Areas of cooperation include locating where payments for child pornography end up, as most of the groups that collect the illicit money are based abroad, said Secretary Ivan John Uy of the Department of Information and Communications Technology.
“We tackle it [on] all sides,” Uy said. “We work with our international partners to cut off the demand, but at the same time, we, here on the supply side, have to make sure that we do not provide easy access to that supply.”
Meanwhile, the United States is looking into strengthening partnership with the Philippines to prevent cases of child abuse involving American and other foreign nationals, US Department of Homeland Security Investigations Attaché Ricardo Navalta said.
Navalta noted that the US has entered into a memorandum of cooperation with the Philippine National Police in 2018 to investigate and combat transnational crimes.
He said they are now in the process of adding the National Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Immigration, and the DSWD – among other agencies – to the program.
According to UNICEF, the prevalence of OSEC in the Philippines may be attributed to widespread poverty, lack of jobs, the country’s high internet access rate, Filipinos’ English proficiency, and “cultural norms that uphold prioritizing family over one’s own well-being.”
The International Justice Mission also found that OSEC is largely a family-based crime. The organization said operations it has supported in the Philippines since 2011 showed that over half of arrested traffickers were parents, relatives or close family friends.
