A WOMAN allegedly offering online pornography involving her sisters, including a 16-year-old minor, to foreign nationals was nabbed by operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI 7) following an entrapment on Jan. 31, 2023.
Claire (not her real name), 25, was arrested at her house in Barangay Tisa, Cebu City.
NBI 7 Senior Agent Niño Rodriguez, the investigator of the case, told reporters in a press conference on Tuesday, Feb. 7, that they first knew of Claire’s illegal activities when they conducted a random cyber patrol using an undercover Facebook account with a profile of a foreign national.
Rodriguez said Claire then engaged them in a conversation and later asked for money to buy food and a cellphone load in exchange for some nude photos of her and her two sisters, ages 20 and 16.
He added that Claire offered a “cam show” with her siblings if they paid more money. A cam show refers to the online streaming of sexually explicit material via webcam.
Unknown to Claire, Rodriguez and his team were preparing to entrap her while she was preparing for the cam show.
But when they arrived at Claire’s house, only the suspect was present.
Rodriguez said they later learned that Claire’s 16-year-old sister was already rescued by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and was currently housed in a shelter two weeks before the former’s arrest.
Rodriguez said the agency had received a report from a foreign law enforcement agency of the minor’s nude photos that were being shown on social media sites outside the country.
In a sworn statement submitted on Feb. 1, the 16-year-old minor confirmed that she and her sister were peddled online by Claire, their older sister.
In a separate interview, Claire denied that she peddled her sisters to do sexual acts online.
“They are not a part of this. It was only me,” Claire said in Cebuano.
She said she resorted to online pornography as a way to make ends meet, admitting that her transactions run from as low as P300 up to P1,500. One of her expensive offerings is the cam show for her clients.
She said all the transactions were made through a digital wallet application.
On Feb. 2, the NBI 7 charged Claire with violation of Republic Act 11862, or the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2022.