FIVE minors, including a three-month-old baby, were rescued from their mothers who were arrested for alleged involvement in cyber pornography activities in Barangay Basak, Lapu-Lapu City yesterday afternoon.
Mothers Mary, 33, and Jane, 24, were arrested by a joint team from the International Justice Mission (IJM), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the local police past 1 p.m.
(Sun.Star Cebu is withholding the names of the mothers to protect the identities of the minors)
Insp. Alcon Escosura, Lapu-Lapu Police Station 4 chief in his initial report, said that the operation was conducted by virtue of a search warrant against Mary for violation of Section 4 of Republic Act 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. The suspects were arrested inside Mary’s house.
The IJM received information that one of the suspects has been involved in cybersex for about a year, a GMA 7 Balitang Bisdak report said.
In the same television report, one of the suspects was reportedly caught with only her bra on.
Chief Insp. Rosefiela Santolorin, assistant chief of Women and Children Protection Center-Visayas Field Unit (WCPC-VFU), told Sun.Star Cebu that Mary’s children were rescued, a 17-year-old twins and a 10-year-old, who are all female.
Mary is married but does not have a job.
Santolorin said that Jane’s children, a three-month-old baby girl, and a one-year and three-month-old boy, were also rescued.
Jane has a live-in partner. She is working as a rope-maker to support her family’s needs.
In the Balitang Bisdak report, Jane just finished breastfeeding her baby when a foreigner wanted to see her child through the camera mounted on a computer.
The minors are now under the custody of DSWD.
In an interview, Escosura said that the IJM coordinated with them yesterday about the operation.
PO1 Jamna Pilapil of Police Station 4-WCP Desk told Sun.Star Cebu that the suspects were brought to the police station past 4 p.m. for documentation.
They were then brought to the Lapu-Lapu City Hospital for medical examination, before they were detained at the Lapu-Lapu Police Office stockade.