Rizal Rep. Fidel Nograles thanked President Duterte for giving due attention to the increasing cases of child pornography in the country by directing the imposition of sanctions against Internet Service Providers that have failed to stop online child pornography as he urged Congress to expeditiously tackle amendments to the country’s Anti-Child Pornography law.
The neophyte lawmaker cheered at Duterte’s resolve to address the rising cases of child pornography in the country as the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) released a report showing that from January to June 2020, some P113.1-million worth of suspicious transactions related to child pornography were recorded.
“Nagpapasalamat tayo na si Pangulong Duterte na mismo ang nag-direkta para magkaroon ng agarang aksyon laban sa child pornography,” he said in a statement.
(We thank President Duterte for personally directing immediate action against child pornography)
"Nananawagan tayo sa Kongreso na gawin din ang makakaya para matigil na ang pagsasamantala sa ating kabataan,” he added.
(We also appeal to Congress to exhaust all means to put to an end to exploitation of our youth)
Duterte had directed the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to slap penalties against ISPs that have failed to stop online child pornography.
Nograles expressed concern about the AMLC report showing that online sexual exploitation rose to 47,937 in 2020 from 19,000 in 2019.
Citing the AMLC report, the Harvard-trained lawyer noted that the suspicious transactions amounting to P113.1 million related to child pornography that were reported in the first half of 2020 is almost double the P65.8 million posted in 2019.
With this, he said Congress should expedite the passage of a bill seeking to strengthen Republic Act No. 9775, otherwise known as the "Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009."
He urged his colleagues to take a second look at the conflicting provisions of the law that prevent ISPs from taking more proactive steps to curb child pornography.
In September last year, Nograles authored House Bill No. 7633 or the Anti-Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children Act of 2020 to amend Section 9 of RA 9775 which allows ISPs to install software that could block access to and transmittal of child pornography and notify authorities within seven days of detection of any Internet address that may contain child pornography.
Nograles’ measure provides that all Information and Communication Technology Service Providers (ICTSP) shall install available technology, program, or software to ensure that access to or transmittal of any form of child pornography will be blocked or filtered.
It mandates all ICTSP to notify the Philippine National Police (PNP) or the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) within seven days from obtaining facts and circumstances that any form of child pornography is being committed or has been committed using its server or facility or platform.
"All ICTSP shall maintain the privacy of the data captured relevant to this section while complying with notification requirements of this section. Provided, That no ISP shall be held civilly liable for damages on account of any notice given in good faith in compliance with this section. Provided further that the data captured solely for complying to this Section shall be exempt from the application of the Data Privacy Act,” the bill said.
HB No. 7633 also prohibits foreign nationals who have committed any sex-related offenses from entering the country.