Senator Risa Hontiveros on Thursday, August 20 said the proposed Child Online Safety and Protection Act—an expanded version of the original Anti-Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (OSAEC) Law should be certified as urgent.

Hontiveros made the call following the tragic shooting incident at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University, saying the measure equips the state with the legal authority it needs to confront Nihilistic Violent Extremism (NVE).

Currently, the bill is in the period of amendments in the Senate and has passed on third reading in the House of Representatives.

“This bill should be certified as urgent. NVE is an alarming new trend that needs immediate action,” Hontiveros said.

“Passing the amended Anti-OSAEC bill would give law enforcement agencies the tools to apprehend suspects and perpetrators. Huwag na nating hintayin na dumami pa ang school shooting bago umaksyon (Let's not wait for more school shootings to happen before taking action),” she said.

Presiding over the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality hearing on NVE, the senator said the Upper Chamber now has the legislative window to close the gaps that allow the same digital ecosystems to groom, radicalize, and steer children toward violence.

The lawmaker noted that OSAEC and NVE remain distinct threats, but both are enabled by the same digital platforms, the same blind spots, and the same failures of early detection and child protection.

Hontiveros said the bill, if passed, will punish these forms of technology-facilitated violence against children, sexual or non-sexual.

“We authored the Anti-OSAEC law to shield our children from different forms of online abuse and exploitation,” she pointed out.

“Ngayong may panibagong banta laban sa kanila, tungkulin nating tugunan ito nang walang pag aalinlangan (Now that there is a new threat against them, it is our duty to respond to it without hesitation),” the senator stressed.

She said the findings of previous Senate committee hearings revealed that NVE networks use alienation, glorification of violence, and vulnerable children in digital communities that normalize harmful behavior.

“The emerging threat of NVE is real. It is nefarious [...] Including mental health, parental supervision, access to firearms, security protocols, and others. It is one of the many factors behind school shootings that we must not take for granted,” she said.