Ang Probinsyano party-list Rep. Alfred delos Santos has sought the creation of an inter-agency council that would further strengthen the government’s fight against online sexual exploitation of children.
Under House Bill No. 7718 or the proposed "Online Sexual Exploitation of Children Act of 2020,” Delos Santos cited the need for the government to create such council as the Philippines has been named by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as the “global epicenter of the live-stream sexual abuse trade.”
“The incidence of online sexual exploitation of children has been tremendously alarming,” he said, lamenting that one in five Filipino children are vulnerable to online sexual exploitation.
He noted that in 2018, the Department of Justice (DoJ) has received at least 600,000 cybertips of sexual images of Filipino children or an increase of more than a 1,000 percent from the previous 45, 645 in 2017.
“As the next leaders of our country, our Filipino children need the most stringent measures for protection against abuse. It is them for this reason that the passage of this bill is sought,” Delos Santos said.
HB No. 7718 calls for the establishment of the Inter-Agency Council on Online Sexual Exploitation Against Children (IAC-OSEC), which shall be composed of 10 agencies. Sitting at the council are the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Civil Service Commission (CSC), Commission on Human Rights (CHR), Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC), Department of Justice (DoJ), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Philippine National Police (PNP), Department of Health (DoH), Department of Education (DepEd), and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Under the measure, the IAC-OSEC is mandated to formulate programs and projects to eliminate OSEC on the barangay, local government unit (LGU), regional, and national levels.
The bill mandates the DSWD and the LGUs to provide the victims of OSEC temporary shelters, provide counseling, psycho-social services and recovery, rehabilitation programs, and financial assistance.
The DoH is expected to provide medical assistance to the OSEC victims.
Delos Santos’ bill provides that the online sexual exploitation of children shall be considered a public offense which may be prosecuted upon the filing of a complaint by any citizen having personal knowledge of the circumstances involving the commission of the crime.
It provides that any victim of OSEC shall be entitled to actual, compensatory, moral, and exemplary damages.
HB 7718 provides that violators shall be penalized with a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment and a fine of not less than P500,000.
The offender shall also undergo mandatory psychological counseling or psychiatric treatment and shall report compliance to the court, it provides.