CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews / 4 Sep)—The Supreme Court on Tuesday set up three “Justice Zones” in the cities of Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and Ozamiz to coordinate their law enforcement efforts to combat online sexual exploitation of children.
Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo said a “Justice Zone” is where the Supreme Court, along with the Department of Justice and the Department of Interior and Local Government, can “coordinate and streamline efforts” against the online sexual exploitation of children which has exploded in the Philippines into a hotspot in virtual child porn.
“The final point is that this crime targets the most vulnerable in our society—those who our systems and institutions of justice and care and protections are supposed to prioritize and look after,” Gesmundo said.
He said the Department of Justice received a staggering report of 2.74 million cyber tips on online child porn in the country, making it second only to India and was identified as a world center for child sexual abuse material production by the International Justice Mission (IJM), a global organization that protects people in poverty from violence.
Associate Justice Maria Filomena Singh said based on these statistics, nearly half a million Filipino children were sexually abused and exploited to create images, videos and livestreams for sale to offenders around the world.
“This horrifying statistics means that one in every 100 Filipino children is a victim,” Singh said.
The International Justice Mission said most international sex offenders lure children and often in connivance with their Filipino parents to perform on livestream on the internet or offer images and videos online.
The global organization said nearly a quarter of a million Filipino adults are involved in trafficking children to produce new child sexual exploitation materials.
“It is easy to detect the manufacture of online child porn by checking on the internet usage and the international money transfers. Often it is the parents or relatives who are involved,” Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla said.
Last July 21, 2014, the Iligan City Task Force against Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children (OSAEC) arrested a woman who was caught “using, persuading, inducing, engaging, directing and facilitating” six children in Barangay Suarez.
The six children, three of which were children of the suspect, were turned over to the City Social Welfare and Development Office.
“Clearly, we cannot let this continue—and we will not allow it to continue,” Gesmundo said.
He said that unfortunately, government prosecutors and law enforcement agencies cannot cope with the complexity of the crime that involve technology.
He said this is the reason why “Justice Zones” are organized in the three cities of Cagayan de Oro, Iligan and Ozamiz where there are reports of online child porn.
“It goes beyond the victims-survivors who are exploited for sexual purposes using information and communications technology. There are the demand-side perpetrators and supply-side perpetrators. There are financial transactions. These highlight the difficulty,” Gesmundo said.
“Justice Zones” were also launched in other key cities in the country like Cebu, Iloilo, Baguio and Davao. (Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews)
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