Deputy Speaker and Las Piñas Representative Camille Villar is calling for an investigation into the rise of online child sexual abuse  as the Philippines emerged as the world’s leading producer of child pornography.

In filing House Resolution 453, she claimed that the prevalence of online abuse, particularly during the pandemic, made it one of the most urgent problems today.

Villar said in a statement that “there is a need to protect children from different types of online abuses, especially since the pandemic has had a profound impact on the way children use the Internet as they spent more time online.”

She said the Philippines has been identified as the world’s hub for the live-stream sexual abuse trade as early as 2016. The country is also ranked second for its vulnerability to cybercrime, which puts more youngsters and children at risk because they use the internet the most frequently.

According to the House leader, six out of 10 kids between the ages of 8 and 10 were exposed to cyber risks, including phishing, hacking, cyberbullying, and even sexual exploitation, which had been linked to the widespread and simple availability of smartphones and tablets even at a young age.

She added that there have been reports that even parents or close family members are child traffickers.

Citing data from the United Nations Children’s Fund, the lawmaker said 20 percent of internet-using children ages of 12 and 17 were victims of online sexual exploitation and abuse. This includes being promised with money or gifts to engage in sexual activity, having their sexual images shared without their consent, or being blackmailed to engage in sexual activity.

She added that a different report from the Department of Justice showed that the number of reported incidents of online child sexual exploitation nearly tripled during the quarantine, going from 76,561 cases to 279,166 from March 1 to May 24, 2020. . Cyber tip reports, or those that are not actually confirmed cases, also increased exponentially to 2.8 million cases in 2021, from 1.2 million in 2020 and about 400,000 in 2019. 

One of the worst and most concerning types of human trafficking taking place in the Philippines, Villar emphasized, is the sexual exploitation of children online, which includes child pornography and abuse.

According to her, it is crucial to help children who have experienced abuse understand that what was done to them was abusive and that doing so is against the law because it could cause them distress.

Photo Credit: House of Representatives Official Website