BY FR. SHAY CULLEN
(Continued from Nov. 15, 2022)
DURING the lockdowns, many pedophiles were unable to travel to poor nations to sexually exploit the children but arranged to pay for child sex abuse shows over the internet. Parents are the main perpetrators. The telecommunication companies have not installed any effective software like Microsoft’s videoDNA or photoDNA software to block this child abuse as the law mandates them to do. They claim to block access to child abuse web sites supplied by a non-government organization, Internet Watch Foundation, yet no external verification is given.
Recently, a shocking social media platform on YouTube and Facebook named “Usapang Diskarte” (meaning “Let’s Talk Strategy”), instead of being blocked, it went viral last July when it was discovered it was promoting sex abuse of children and giving pedophiles lessons on how to groom, seduce and lure children into having sex with adults.
The Women and Children Cybercrime Protection Unit of the Philippine National Police immediately applied and were granted a warrant for YouTube and Facebook to reveal the people behind the postings. It’s not clear if the search warrants can be enforced in the Philippines.
Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla told the telecommunication corporations and the ISPs that enable the internet platforms like YouTube and Facebook that they must obey the cybercrime law and protect children by blocking the passage of such chat rooms and child abuse images through their computer servers. The dedicated secretary will come to know that the telcos are more powerful than the rule of law and government.
The only time the government will stop the Internet is when it itself is being attacked online. They will see that as an act of terrorism and the draconian cyber-libel law will be fully deployed to protect the government officials. The sexual exploitation and abuse of millions of Filipino children and others worldwide is a form of “terrorism” and the laws, especially the new online child protection law, must be swiftly and strictly implemented.
Schools, parishes and seminaries are infiltrated by pedophiles. One in every three or four children experience some acts of sex abuse before they reach 18 so that indicates how widespread is child abuse. It is becoming blatant on social media.
At Bacoor National High School in Cavite, six teachers or more are under investigation since several have been accused for sexual harassment on internet chat rooms. Bringing teachers to justice is a long and tiring process. The school institutions have little fighting spirit to pursue justice and protect the students. They do more, it seems, to protect the abusive teachers.
Take the administrative case against a teacher in New Cabalan National High School in Olongapo City. In March 2019, three male students accused him of sexually abusing them in a hotel room. The case dragged on until finally on 12 May 2022, after more than three years, the DepEd Central Office finally upheld the decision of DepEd Regional Director May Eclar finding the teacher guilty of grave misconduct for sexually abusing the three male minors. Until then, he was still actively teaching at the school.
Two criminal cases against him are still crawling through the justice system for the past three years and justice has yet to be served.
Reports of sexual abuse of students in seminaries and in the parishes of Batanes are crying out for investigation and justice for the victims. The culture of silence and cover up must be broken and school principals and clergy must be aggressively defending the victims’ right to justice as priority, not the suspected abusers. May justice prevail. (preda.org)/PN
