JUSTICE Secretary Menardo Guevarra yesterday lamented that victims of online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC) in the country are getting younger, with ages ranging from five to 14.
In his keynote speech during the Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Center (PICACC) 3rdanniversary, Guevarra praised the agency for being a model for global response against OSAEC.
Guevarra noted that in 2021 alone, PICACC conducted 118 operations that led to the rescue of 373 trafficked victims and arrest of 84 suspects.
“PICACC now serves as a model for an enhanced global response against OSAEC cases. No doubt, these efforts contributed to the Philippines maintaining Tier 1 ranking in the 2021 United States (US) Global Trafficking in Persons (GTIP) Report,” Guevarra noted.
“PICACC has set the template for international law enforcement action and has set a high standard for global response against OSAEC. Your efforts, no doubt, have created a huge dent on OSAEC and the lives of the victims you have rescued,” he added.
OSAEC, according to the DOJ, refers to the use of digital or analog communication, and information and communications technology, as a means to abuse and exploit children sexually, which includes cases in which contact child abuse and/or exploitation offline is combined with an online component.
This could also include, but not be limited to the production, dissemination and possession of child sexual abuse and exploitation materials (CSAEM); online grooming for children for sexual purposes; sexual extortion of children; sharing image-based sexual abuse; commercial sexual exploitation of children; exploitation of children through online prostitution; and live streaming of sexual abuse, with or without the consent of the victim.
While it is difficult to determine the exact number of OSAEC cases in the country, Guevarra said the common observation is that such cases have been steadily increasing.
“They have also observed that the child victims are getting younger. The reported profiles of the victims, who are rescued and who are still in the community, do not form a homogenous group,” the DOJ secretary said.
“Rather, they are composed of children of different ages and gender. In a national study covering four major Philippine cities, the victims’ ages at the time of the abuse and exploitation range from 5 to 14,” he added.
Guevarra said this information is “sad and alarming” and that one of the challenges in addressing the problem was the failure of the Internet Service Providers (ISP) to comply with their legal obligation to assist law enforcement in cyber-related investigations, such as preserving and disclosing computer data associated to a specific IP address.
He said this is being addressed through the DOJ-Office of Cybercrime’s (OOC) reinforced public-private partnerships and encourage their cooperation in incident reporting and to provide relevant information during criminal investigations, particularly with ISPs and electronic communication service providers such as Facebook, Google and Yahoo!
Aside from this, Guevarra noted that the passage of pending bills on sexual abuse and exploitation would greatly help in the government’s campaign against OSAEC.