“THIS is a warning to our parents that the city government will not tolerate this kind of activity.”
This was stressed by Bacolod City Council Celia Matea Flor, chairperson of the City Council committee on women, gender, family and childcare, on Monday, July 17, 2023, after a couple was arrested in an entrapment operation for allegedly exploiting their four minor children online at Purok Tumpok, Espinos Village 2, Barangay Taculing, on July 14.
The four minor children - a six-year-old boy, a nine-year-old girl, and fraternal twins aged two years old – were also rescued by the police on the evening of July 14 after receiving information that they were being used for cybersex trade.
The operation was conducted by operatives of the Women and Children Protection Center-Visayas Field Unit, Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) Police Station 6, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development-Western Visayas (DSWD) in Western Visayas, who served a search warrant and entrapment operation against the suspects, whose names are being withheld, to protect the identities of their children.
Flor said that charges should be filed against the suspects, aged 28 and 35 years old, and their children should be secured by the Department of Social Services and Development (DSSD) for counseling, among others.
“It’s our children, so we must respect and protect them. They have their rights and we have laws of protecting them,” she said.
She added that parents should not use their children just for the sake of money.
“It’s an extreme abuse to our children. Be warned,” Flor said.
The children were brought to the city’s Balay Pasilungan.
Moreover, the Women and Children Protection Center-Visayas Field Unit is now preparing all the documents to file the case against the suspects, who are detained at the custodial facility of Police Station 6, for violation of Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act; RA 7610 or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act; and RA 9975, or the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009.