The Philippines will continue to work closely with foreign law enforcement agencies in its crackdown against online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC), a Department of Justice (DOJ) official said Thursday.
Speaking at the Bagong Pilipinas news forum, Justice Undersecretary in charge of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) Nicholas Ty said the collaboration between the Philippine government and foreign law enforcement agencies has been crucial in past apprehensions and would have a deterrent effect.
“Isang napakaimportanteng hakbang ay ang koordinasyon sa mga foreign counterparts natin – kasi ang online kalaswaan o ang OSAEC kadalasan cross-border crime ito (One important step is coordination with our foreign counterparts as online obscenity or OSAEC is usually a cross-border crime),” Ty said.
He noted that the typical modus involves a foreign sexual predator or a foreign pedophile who looks for a victim by contacting the parents or relatives of Filipino children.
“So, malaking tulong dito ang coordination sa foreign law enforcement, dahil ang foreign law enforcement, sila ang nagbibigay ng referral sa atin ng mga potential kaso dito. At dahil nga sa koordinasyon sa foreign law enforcement, madami na tayong mga nasalbang bata at madami na tayong napasagot na mga perpetrators dito sa Pilipinas (Coordination with foreign law enforcement is a big help as they are the ones who give referrals of potential cases here. And because of coordination with foreign law enforcement, we have saved many children and brought perpetrators to justice),” Ty said.
He added that the personal supervision of parents in their children’s Internet browsing habits would also help a lot.
“Sana ang mga magulang ay maging aware doon sa dangers ng Internet na madaming peligro sa mga kabataan natin na nandiyan, minsan hindi natin nakikita, iniisip natin napakainosente pero maaaring mangyari iyan (We hope that parents would become aware of the many dangers posed by the Internet to children. These are not readily apparent and may seem harmless, but they happen).”
