THE Department of Justice will go after the Filipino contacts of French national Bouhalem Bouchiba who was recently convicted for online sexual abuse of young girls in the Philippines from his home in France, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said yesterday.
Bouchiba, a graphic artist, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for online abuse involving hundreds of Filipino girls.
The DOJ said the 59-year-old Bouchiba paid two women in the Philippines between 2012 and 2021 to rape and sexually assault girls as young as five to 10 years, with the acts being recorded and shared on various online platforms.
“This case sends a powerful message that child exploitation, whether online or offline, will not be tolerated. The government will continue to work diligently with international partners to ensure that offenders are brought to justice and that our children are safeguarded from such crimes,” Remulla said in a statement issued by his office.
Remulla said the DOJ-led Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, the Philippine National Police, and the National Coordination Center Against Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children and Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Materials are working to investigate the case and prosecute the Filipino facilitators of Bouchiba’s crime as well as to further improve information sharing among law enforcement agencies not only in the country but outside as well.
This as he also stressed that fighting human trafficking requires a “whole of nation” approach involving non-government organizations, telecommunications companies, private citizens and international partners.
Last year, Remulla warned Internet service providers (ISPs) that if they refused to cooperate in tracking down sexual abusers, particularly of minors, the government may go after them.
Remulla said ISPs should perform their obligations under Republic Act 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009 requiring them to install a software that will block access to or transmittal of any form of child pornography on the internet.
The law also requires ISPs to notify authorities within seven days from discovery that any form of child pornography is being committed using their servers or facilities.
Remulla said the government’s effort to fight human and sex trafficking is hampered by some social media platforms and applications that refuse or fail to cooperate with authorities.
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children Mama Fatima Singhateh, during a visit to Manila last year, said the Philippines has made huge improvements in tackling the problem but added there are still problems that have to be addressed.
She said among the areas where the country has made positive developments in tackling sexual exploitation of children are in “improving the policy, legal and institutional frameworks.”
However, the UN rapporteur identified some issues that made the country a source of and destination for child trafficking, forced marriage and sexual exploitation, namely difficulty in assessing child marriage due to lack of data, problem of illegal adoption, economic disparities and exclusion of indigenous ethnic minority children, discrimination against LGBTQ children, as well as lack of trained officials or local workers at the barangay level to receive and assess reports of sexually exploited children.
