Solon reminds local chief executives of responsibility vs child porn
At A Glance
- Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte has told local government unit (LGU) officials to actively help the Marcos administration in its fight against online child pornography.
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Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte has told local government unit (LGU) officials to actively help the Marcos administration in its fight against online child pornography.
According to the Commission on Appointments (CA) majority leader, the local chief executives are mandated by law to put up anti-online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC) programs anyway.
“Our local executives can best support the President’s ‘merciless’ war on online child porn by putting up prevention programs against this scourge on cyberspace, in case they haven’t yet," Villafuerte said.
He pointed out that under Republic Act (RA) No. 11930, or the “Anti-OSAEC and Anti-CSAEM Act of 2021, which Villafuerte co-authored, LGUs are tasked to pass ordinances localizing efforts against online child pornography.
“LGUs are mandated by RA No.11930 to put up community-based initiatives against OSAEC and CSAEM at the barangay level by educating families against this Internet-based scourge and providing a holistic approach to rehabilitation and reintegration under local social welfare and development offices," the Bicolano noted.
Villafuerte authored in the past Congress House Bill (HB) No. 7947, which sought tougher penalties against Internet service providers (ISP) found willingly and knowingly allowing the use of their servers or facilities for child pornopgraphy.
HB No.7947 was one of several bills consolidated into the House-approved HB No.10703, which was subsequently combined with Senate Bill (SB) No. 2209 and ratified by both legislative chambers on May 23, 2022.
It was then submitted to then-president Rodrigo Duterte for his approval and signature into law.The enrolled bill lapsed into law—RA No.11930—on July 30, 2022.
President Marcos recently ordered the Philippine National Police (PNP) to create a centralized system for detecting and reporting online sexual abuse of minors.
The Chief Executive also directed the PNP and the agencies to run after perpetrators with the full weight of the law.