Widespread abuse
There are millions of victims of sexual assault all over the world. In late 2024, Unicef reported that 370 million girls and women were and would be subjected to child rape or sexual assault before age 18. The UN agency said in a separate report that online child abuse is happening to such an extent because of “lack of adequate safeguards and regulations to match the pace of digital change.”
We can take that to mean that the Philippine government is not implementing the laws mandating telecommunications companies (telcos) and their internet service providers (ISPs) to install blocking software, which is the main way to protect children from online abuse. They are seemingly ignoring these laws. As a result, still images and videos of child sexual abuse still proliferate on the internet, allowing even children to view them.
These minors can watch the sex acts done to the youngsters, which arouses them to imitate what they see and abuse younger children. This has happened to thousands of children over the past several years. One of them was Maria, 12, who was raped several times by a 15-year-old boy who viewed such harmful online material. Maria was so traumatized that she was referred to the Preda Foundation’s home for children for therapy and healing, and to get justice.
Unicef has reported that there are 2 million child victims of online sexual abuse in the Philippines. As mentioned earlier, telcos and ISPs are required by law to install blocking software to prevent child abuse images from being accessed. But evidence of widespread abuse obtained by Unicef and nongovernmental organizations is a clear indication that ISPs do not deploy such AI-driven software. They must be constantly challenged to obey the law.
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) must also be challenged to implement the law. It had issued Memorandum Circular 01-01-2014, which is clearly being ignored. Republic Act (RA) 9775, or the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009 — which this writer helped draft — holds ISPs responsible to make the internet safe. RA 11930, or the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children and Anti-Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials Act of 2022, strengthened RA 9775.
The responsibility for enforcing these laws is primarily the NTC’s duty. But it appears the agency has been captured by the ISPs and does not dare challenge or penalize these providers that have put themselves above the law. Perhaps, the ISPs consider themselves above President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who expressed shock about how widespread child abuse images are online, bringing shame to the nation.
The impunity of ISPs is the next corruption that must be challenged, as the flood of child sexual images is inundating the minds and emotions of our children, exposing them to abuse and exploitation, and making them potential abusers later on. Young people themselves must rise and demand a safe and abuse-free internet, and the government and telcos must provide it./PN
