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Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Cops, NBI shackled in campaign vs. porn
By Charmaine Y. Rodriguez & Jeanette P. Malinao
Sun.Star Staff Reporters
With the proliferation of online child pornography in the country, the absence of a law penalizing the crime is affecting police efforts to curb it.
Police estimate that 50 to 75 cybersex dens are operating in the Philippines.
But National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 Director Medardo de Lemos admitted that they are not capable of going after cybersex crimes.
“Our agents are not trained,” said de Lemos, who was invited to yesterday’s Provincial Board (PB) regular session to apprise the legislative body about cyber crimes.
The NBI disclosed information from Nicholas Alipul, UN representative to the Philippines, who said that majority of child porn sites originate from the Philippines but are managed by an international group.
The country, according to NBI Supervising Agent Ronald Aguto, has become a “favorite place” for those who are into pornography because of the absence of stringent laws and the inefficient prosecution of cases.
Problems in the regulation of Internet cafes and the police’s lack of knowledge on information technology are compounding the problems, participants to the Building Alliances to Combat Child Pornography forum at the Cebu Grand Convention Center found out yesterday.
At risk
Special Investigator Christopher O’Connor of the Sexual Crimes Squad of Victoria, Australia said Asia is at great risk since the region has many foreign tourists and workers, who sexually assault children and engage in child pornography.
“They do things without consideration or thought for your children” said O’Connor, who was one of the speakers of the forum organized by the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef)-Philippines.
However, the Philippines can become a part of international efforts to curb child pornography since countries, like the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, have organized a network of cooperation to address cyber crimes.
“What is required is your political will to do it,” he told representatives of local government, police and nongovernment agencies yesterday.
In a study entitled “Child Pornography in the Philippines,” which the University of the Philippines Center for Integrative and Development Studies published last year, society’s lack of understanding on pornography was cited as among the challenges.
Lawyer Anjanette Saguisag, Unicef-Philippines project director on child protection, asked forum participants representing the seven areas under the Country Program for Children (CPC) 6 to lead the campaign.
Among the CPC 6 beneficiaries are Cebu City, Antique, Capiz, Eastern Samar, Northern Samar, Guimaras and Oriental Negros.
Poverty
However, O’Connor said the “greatest single risk” to child protection in the world is poverty, which has driven many children to prostitution.
Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management Deputy Director Rodolfo Mendoza, who discussed national and local law enforcement, said the government needs a “national strategic action plan” to address pornography affecting women and children.
Among the steps that Mendoza hopes will be prioritized is the setting up of a high technology crime center, the coming up of a cybercrime investigator’s manual and IT training for police.
“(Improving) the law enforcement capacity will provide us with significant contributions in the fight against cyber crimes against women and children,” he added.
Mendoza lamented that many suspected pedophiles and operators of cybersex dens did not face prosecution because cases against them were dismissed outright for the police’s failure to present proper evidence.
De Lemos even said their agents’ lack of training is the reason that he tapped officials from Manila to make the presentation before the PB.
Training
But lawyer Elfren Meneses, chief of the NBI’s Anti-Fraud Computer Crimes Division, said they have personnel from their agency being trained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other agencies abroad.
These agents will echo the trainings for officers of NBI regional offices by October or November, said Meneses.
Meneses stressed the need for all local government units to be active in enacting laws, as there is no specific national law on cybercrimes yet.
In his presentation yesterday, Aguto, of the NBI computer crimes division, disclosed that they recorded three cases in 2003, another three cases in 2004, six in 2005 and 11 cases for 2006.
Meneses said the low number of cases could be attributed to the lack of specific law on cybercrimes, although a bill has been passed at the House committee level.
“I think we should just make local ordinances because Congress is not really that productive,” said PB Member Victor Maambong.
There is now a pending proposal before the Lapu-Lapu City Council for the regulation of Internet cafés in the city, after a raid by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group 7 found women working for cybersex.
Police is also gaining ground against cybersex crimes, with the prosecution of persons allegedly operating a cybersex den in Las Pińas City, where 20 women and six girls were rescued during a police operation.
Earlier this month, a 44-year-old woman was caught forcing six girls, including her daughter, to pose nude in front of a web camera in her house in Minglanilla town.
She was charged with violations of the anti-trafficking of persons law.
Mendoza said a law on pornography could strengthen cases against the suspects and the mere possession of pornographic materials could easily nail suspects down.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 20, 2006 issue)
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