|
Saturday, July 01, 2006
RP child porn trade rakes in P1B a year
Operators of child pornography who use the Internet to advance their illegal business make an estimated $1 billion a year in the country.
This was revealed by Chief Supt. Rodolfo Mendoza, PNP deputy director for investigation and detective management during the Luzon regional conference against child pornography.
The Philippines is now Asia’s fourth-largest purveyor of child porn behind Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar, much of it on the Internet, Mendoza said.
He did not disclose his sources or say how the rankings had been devised.
“We could conclude that Internet child pornography and cybersex dens in the country are widespread, systematic, organized, syndicated, and transnational in nature,” he said, adding that foreign syndicates also operate now in the Philippines.
Mendoza said there are about 50 to 75 cybersex dens in the country and majority of their victims are children ages 12 and below.
The lack of laws against child pornography is the main reason cybersex dens are rampant here, he said.
“More often than not, cases filed against perpetrators of child pornography are dismissed because possession of child porno materials is not a crime in this country. Evidence against perpetrators becomes inadmissible in court and that there is no way to track down pedophiles in the country, except through tips as there is no viable database,” Mendoza noted.
Problems in regulating Internet cafes and the police’s lack of knowledge on information technology make things more difficult for law enforcers.
In a Unicef-sponsored conference in Cebu last June 19, Mendoza 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.
He also said some cybersex dens are either located in a hotel, motel or apartment where no one could suspect that illegal activities are being conducted.
Mendoza said the child pornography problem could only be addressed if the government would implement a “law that would give detailed definitions of child pornography with a provision that would punish mere possession of pornvwas prioritized because the traffic problem in the Banilad area did not surface when he first proposed the project two years ago. (CYR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 1, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
|
[return to top]
[home]
[network page]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
