Wednesday, September 03, 2008 Forum wants law in fight v. porno
FOR P5 or P10, children pose nude or scantily dressed before cameras while their recruiters earn up to P10,000 per hour, said the Anti-Child Pornography Alliance (Acpa).
“What recruiters earn differs per request, but they can earn P10,000 or P5,000 per hour,” said Arlene Brosas of ACPA-National.
The children are between 11 to 17 years old. Some cases have children below 11 years old. These children sometimes have their parents’ consent because of poverty, Brosas said.
“They just badly need the money, they do not see anything wrong with that,” Brosas said.
Across the nation, child pornography exists at home or in public Internet cafes.
Internet café operators receive demands from overseas customers. The operators then look for young boys or girls to pose for the camera, said Dr. Leny Ocasiones of ACPA-Cebu. The pictures are sold to the customers online.
Ocasiones said there are some Internet cafes that have rooms upstairs solely for pornography.
Minglanilla
In Cebu, there have been three instances of child pornography reported to their organization, Ocasiones said. One is in Minglanilla.
Acpa worries about the lack of a law against child pornography.
“We do not have teeth to bite them (child pornography culprits) because there is no law,” said Ocasiones.
The police will only write off the cases as acts of lasciviousness or trafficking. The culprit walks off, Brosas said.
Currently, a bill on child pornography is up for third reading in the Senate.
“We have to push the government to take a stand on anti-child pornography and see to the passing of the bill,” said Brosas. (EPB)
