A move of the Lapu-Lapu City officials to regulate the “pisonet” enterprise adds muscle to the fight against cyberpornography, which victimizes
children and minors.
Mayor Paz Radaza proposed the creation of guidelines to regulate the business after Barangay Basak endorsed to the Lapu-Lapu City Council the banning of the “pisonet” enterprise, following its rescue of a minor caught committing cyberporn in a “pisonet” outlet, reported SunStar Superbalita
Cebu’s Flor V. Querubin on June 13.
The Lapu-Lapu City Government will demonstrate political will if it can regulate a popular variation of the internet cafe, which charges users a peso for four to six minutes of online surfing.
Its affordability to children and minors makes the “pisonet” enterprise a portal for abuse. Risks to youths escalate since there is usually no adult minding the internet use of “pisonet” regulars.
The local government unit’s (LGU) initiative is overdue. Lapu-Lapu City reported the second highest number of human trafficking cases (62) filed
in court, second to the 181 cases filed in Cebu City, according to Regional State Prosecutor Fernando Gubalane.
According to the June 2 report of Justin K. Vestil, Region 7, or Central Visayas, has the “third highest number of human trafficking cases filed in court since 2003.”
Gubalane reported “357 criminal cases... filed against 325 human trafficking suspects in Central Visayas with 1,012 victims serving as complainants.”
Yet, the campaign to stop human trafficking and online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) faces obstacles, primarily the “refusal of victims to cooperate in the prosecution of human trafficking suspects.”
Uncooperative victims contribute to making human trafficking “rampant” in the region despite increased official vigilance, pointed out Gubalane.
Cybersex moms and grandmas are the usual perpetrators behind the underaged victims of trafficking.
According to the International Justice Mission (IJM), 99 victims were rescued from 38 anti-online cyberpornography operations since 2011.
Fifty-four of the 99 rescued victims were 12 years old and below; 32, minors aged above 12 years old; and 13, adults, reported SunStar Cebu.
Victims are often blood relations or neighbors of their perpetrators, making the family a site of danger, far from a place of nurture or a refuge.
It also increases the difficulties of putting under surveillance private homes turned into cybersex dens. Money transfer firms help authorities by reporting suspicious transactions between local
cybersex operators and foreign clients. For instance, the San Francisco mother who sold her daughter and other minors to online pedophiles received money from abroad twice or thrice a week.
Last June, the Mandaue City Council approved on first reading the Money Transfer Ordinance 2017, which regulates the establishments offering money remittance services. Proponents Vice Mayor Carlo Foruna and Councilor Cynthia Remedio want to regulate the firms to prevent these from serving as conduits of illegal activities, such as human trafficking, OSEC, fraud and extortion, reported SunStar Cebu’s Flornisa M. Gitgano on June 26.
On the other hand, Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, who chairs the Cebu Provincial Women’s Commission, said that cybersex den operators have also learned to dodge the authorities by avoiding transacting in one money transfer firm in the barangay more than once.
Magpale has said that the campaign against human trafficking and OSEC should involve not just law enforcers but other stakeholders. Teachers are crucial stakeholders because they are in the frontlines, working daily with children and other minors. They must tip off the authorities as soon as they notice irregular behavior in students traumatized by cyberpornography.
Communities must present a solid front against these predators of children.