By Rebelander S. Basilan
Saturday, October 11, 2014
SunStar Cebu
LOCAL officials and civil society groups renewed their commitment yesterday to stop child cyber prostitution in Cebu.
They agreed to conduct massive surveillance and information drive in communities during a forum that launched the campaign for “a zero child cyber prostitution community.”
Officials shared their views on how to stop the threat during the three-hour activity held at the Ayala Activity Center in Cebu City.
Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale assured that the Province will continue to keep an eye on communities, including “gated villages”, where cyberporn dens may be operating.
She lamented that the menace continues to grow despite raids conducted by law enforcement agencies.
“Our laws may be enough but let us admit, the implementation of these laws is still much to be desired,” she said.
Magpale, who chairs the Provincial Women’s Commission (PWC), authored an ordinance against child sex tourism that was recently passed by the Cebu Provincial Board.
Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza said the City has intensified information campaigns in the barangays to keep families away from the crime and draw tips on cyberporn operations.
Last March, the City Government and Lapu-Lapu City Rep. Aileen Radaza launched an awareness campaign that adopted the slogan, “I am not for sale”.
Ma. Jonah Nuñez, program manager of the social outreach division of the Fellowship for Organizing Endeavors Inc. (Forge), also called on the National Telecommunications Commission to join efforts to stop cyber prostitution.
“Internet service providers have already put in place measures, but it’s becoming hard to monitor cyber prostitution because we now have personal gadgets. We need the agencies that have started Internet in the first place to act also,” she said in an interview.
Yesterday’s forum was organized by the Forge, Terre Des Hommes (TDH), Bidlisiw Foundation and the Cebu Provincial Government through the PWC.
They held the activity as part of the Children’s Month celebration.
Dr. Alwin de Leon, country manager of the TDH Netherlands Philippines Country Office, said anti-cyber prostitution agencies need to be “proactive”.
“We have to discourage potential perpetrators–the so-called casual pedophiles. We should caution would-be perpetrators. We have to visit predators and search their computers for child pornography,” he said in a message read by Ma. Sheila Baylosis, deputy project manager of Forge’s social outreach division.
He also raised the need to patrol public chatrooms, saying that “the Internet should remain free but not lawless.”
TDH Netherlands was behind the project to identify perpetrators of “webcam child sex tourism” by creating a 10-year-old virtual Filipina girl whom they named Sweetie.
Through Sweetie, the group identified 1,000 child sex predators from 71 countries in 10 weeks.
De Leon underscored the need for unity among civil society groups, the religious sector, service providers, the academe and other concerned sectors to stop child cyber prostitution, saying the crime causes trauma among children.
Also present in yesterday’s forum were Prosecutor Fernando Gubalane, who heads the Regional Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking in Persons, Mandaue City social welfare officer Pureza Tabuac and representatives of the Cebu City Council, the National Bureau of Investigation and other agencies.
The forum ended with a pledge from the participants who signed a tarpaulin bearing the activity’s theme: “Together onwards for a Zero Child Cyber Prostitution Community.”