THE Supreme Court on Tuesday set up ‘Justice Zones’ in the cities of Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, and Ozamiz to coordinate law enforcement efforts aimed at combating the online sexual exploitation of children.
Cases of online child pornography, a form of violence against children, have been rising in these three key cities of Mindanao.
Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo said a ‘Justice Zone’ is where the Supreme Court, along with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), can coordinate and streamline efforts against the proliferation of online sexual exploitation of children, making the Philippines a hotspot in virtual child pornography.
“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.
Gesmundo said the Department of Justice received a staggering report of 2.74 million cyber tips regarding online child pornography in the country, making the country second only to India.
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The Philippines has also been 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 that based on these statistics, nearly half a million Filipino children have been 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, often through their Filipino parents, to perform on live stream on the internet and their images and videos sold 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 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” the exploitation of six children in Barangay Suarez.
The six children, three of which were children of the suspect, were turned over to the Iligan City Social Work and Development Department.
“We cannot let this continue, and we will not allow it to continue,” Gesmundo said.
Gesmundo said unfortunately, government prosecutors and law enforcement agencies cannot cope with the complexity of the crime that involves 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 demand-side perpetrators and supply-side perpetrators. There are financial transactions. These highlight the difficulty,” Gesmundo said.
‘Justice Zones’ have also been launched in other key cities in the country like Cebu, Iloilo, Baguio, and Davao.
