The barangay’s Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC) desks will soon be capacitated to handle cases of online child sexual abuse as the country steps up its efforts in battling the crime, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. said.
 

DILG Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. speaks to the media during a Malacañang press briefing on June 5, 2024. Seated beside him is National Coordination Center against OSAEC Executive Director Margarita Magsaysay. (Photo from the Presidential Communications Office)
 

This as President Marcos ordered the creation of a centralized system for detecting and reporting online child sexual abuse after he was presented with the comprehensive and intensive action plan to combat online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC) and child sexual abuse and exploitation materials (CSAEM) during a sectoral meeting earlier this week.
 

He noted that the use of technology and various other mechanisms would help combat the sexual abuse of children online.
 

Aside from Abalos, also included in the sectoral meeting were officials from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
 

According to the DILG chief, the President ordered for a whole-of-government approach, which will capacitate the barangay-level Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC) desks, to monitor and detect cases of online sex abuse of children.
 

“Ang importante kasi, sabi nga ng Pangulo, saan magsusumbong ang bata? Kanino magsusumbong ito? At pagsumbong sa barangay, alam ba ng barangay kung ano ang gagawin (What’s important, the President said, where will the children go? Who will they tell about it? And when they go to the barangay, does the barangay know what to do)?,” Abalos asked.
 

“Kaya napag-usapan kahapon at gagawin po natin, ika-capacitate po ito (We talked about it and what we’re going to do is we will capacitate this),” he said.
 

A VAWC desk, typically located within the barangay hall and managed by a VAWC desk officer appointed by the barangay captain, is a barangay-level facility that helps victim-survivors who have faced various types of abuse.
 

“In fact, ilalagay rin po natin ito (we will include this) as part of the seal of good local governance. Lalagyan po natin ng tinatawag na parameters ito sa lahat ng mga barangay at local government units sa buong Pilipinas (We will put parameters in all barangay and local government units in the whole Philippines),” he added.
 

The official shared that Marcos is serious about ending online sexual abuse of children as it is the “worst of all crimes.”
 

The move to a centralized system for reporting and detecting online child sex abuse is in line with the Marcos administration’s commitment to place the protection of children at the center of programs and policies.
 

Part of implementing the centralized system is the adoption of barangay ordinance against OSAEC and CSAEM, which will be replicated to the municipal and city levels, Abalos said.
 

Aside from capacitating VAWC desks, the DILG will likewise mandate the conduct of seminars.
 

The DILG chief also warned that barangay officials who may prove to be negligent of their duties regarding cases of online sex abuse of children might have to face administrative cases.
 

“Menor de edad ‘yan eh tapos tatalikuran mo pa, hindi pupuwede iyon – talagang iyan, talagang may sanction kami diyan. Hindi puwedeng walang sanction iyan, we’ll see to it may administrative cases kaming ipa-file diyan (They are minors then you will neglect them, that’s unacceptable — we have a sanction for that. They cannot escape the sanction, we’ll see to it that there are administrative cases to be filed),” he added.
 

Abalos also shared that there were 214 case referrals from the Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Center (PICACC), 98 operations conducted, 413 rescued victims, 88 arrested, and 38 convicted from 2019 to 2024.