‘Data gathered in the research yielded alarming figures for which the administration of President Bongbong Marcos should act with urgency for the sake of our future nation builders.’

THE mere mention of online child exploitation and abuse in itself immediately puts the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) at the receiving end of all the blame because part of its mandate is to protect children from harm – physical or otherwise.

From a study entitled “Disrupting Harm in the Philippines: Evidence on Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse” funded by the Global Partnership to End Violence against Children, through its Safe Online initiative, the International Police Organization (Interpol) and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), some Philippine government officials seemed unaware that Filipino children belong to the most vulnerable around the globe.

OCEA “refers to situations that involve digital or communication technologies at some point during the continuum of abuse or exploitation; it can occur fully online or through a mix of online and in-person interactions between offenders and children,” the study said.

Data gathered in the research yielded alarming figures for which the administration of President Bongbong Marcos should act with urgency for the sake of our future nation builders. And we’re just talking about the wanton use of mobile gadgets and unregulated access to social media.

• 55% of children surveyed did not know how to report harmful content on social media.

• 44% said they did not know where to get help if they or a friend were subjected to sexual harassment or abuse.

• 13% of children surveyed said they had had sexual images of them shared without their permission within the last year.

• 36% did not know who had shared the images.

• 31% of children who had their sexual images shared without their permission did not tell anyone.

• 13% of children surveyed had been threatened or blackmailed to engage in sexual activities within the past year.

None of these children reported what happened to any formal reporting mechanisms though over half of those children did disclose to people they trusted such as friends or caregivers.

For the longest time, the DSWD has been at the forefront of the campaign against child abuse. There are instances when the DSWD, through its local conduits and private partners, has been rescuing children from despotic guardians or crime syndicates behind the flesh trade, drug-peddling and other criminal activities.

While the DSWD has been doing what is expected of them, the Office of Secretary Rex Gatchalian can’t win the war against online child sexual exploitation and abuse on its own sans the help of President Marcos even though there’s already an anti-child abuse act.

Methinks DSWD needs the help of other Philippine government offices to win the battle against online child sexual exploitation abuse and exploitation in the Philippines.

What is more alarming is that the incidence of child exploitation online got worse with the uncontrolled use of smartphones and unregulated social media access among children, which makes it doubly difficult for the DSWD.

This is where President Marcos Jr. should come in and instruct the Department of Education (DepEd), the Department of Health (DOH), the Department of Justice (DOJ) with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) with the PNP and the Department of Information and Communication (DICT) with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to aid the DSWD in the fight against online child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Yours truly has reached out to the Office of DICT Secretary Ivan Uy on September 9, 2024 regarding the harms against children, but to this date, the DICT has not yet replied. Maybe Secretary Uy is a very busy person, with no time to open his email and respond to the email inquiry sent by this columnist.

I was told that the reply from DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara to the email questions of this columnist is being prepared.

The DSWD does not even have enough personnel to make a random check or do rounds in private or public schools where vultures are patiently waiting for the perfect opportunity to inflict harm on defenseless kids. Interestingly, the probability of child sexual exploitation and abuse is also imminent even inside the so-called “home sweet home.”

The PNP is of utmost importance under these two circumstances, notwithstanding the fact that all local police stations and detachments across the country have their own women and children protection desk.

Amid this tall order, the DSWD should be given more than what Congress has been allocating on an annual basis under the General Appropriations Act.

And to cap it all, the DSWD, which has been offering a menu of services and programs to protect these victim-survivors, help them in their recovery, and guide them in their reintegration into their respective communities, should be given genuine power to make use of its funds solely for the purpose for which it was allocated – free from grandstanding politicians.

The current bunch of DSWD officials led by Secretary Gatchalian with reliable hands to support his stewardship such as Undersecretaries Alan Tanjusay, Ed Punay, Atty. Adonis Sulit and Dr. Denise Florence Bernos-Bragas, among, others are doing very well, so to my friends — who are ear whisperers of tradpols —please advise your clients, who assume they’re smart but actually idiots, to stay away from this department, unless they have something concrete to offer so that we can save our future nation builders from online sexual exploitation and abuse.