Hontiveros wants bill to curb online sexual abuse of minors passed

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SENATE deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros has filed a proposed resolution directing the Committee on Women to investigate the “alarming spike” in cases of online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC) and the proliferation of OSAEC criminal networks using chat platforms and electronic wallets.

Hontiveros said Senate Resolution No. 1307 filed on Monday seeks to put an end to OSAEC by strengthening existing laws which have apparently been taken advantage of by criminals in the “advent of emerging technologies, the transnational nature of some OSAEC-related transactions, and the growth of underground digital financial systems” which have proven to be a big challenge for law enforcers.

She cited a report of a group of cybersecurity experts known as Deep Web Konek that thousands of Filipino minors were being victimized by or involved in OSAEC-related criminal activities that take place on chat platforms.

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“The rise of end-to-end encryption, while providing privacy and security to regular conversations, has also led to the impunity of sexual predators, whose illegal activities can fly under the radar and below law enforcement security,” she said in the resolution.

She said the Deep Web Konek has identified more than 100 private channels which were dedicated to illicit digital content “with the largest channel boasting over 100,000 members and accumulating more than 40,000 digital files such as videos and photos” which were conducted primarily through e-wallets, particularly GCash, with mule accounts and disposable digital wallets used to obscure the money trail.

She said the same report also revealed there were instances of parents being involved in the trafficking of their children, including the case of a woman selling more than 200 files with OSAEC content of her child.

“In 2022 alone, nearly half a million Filipino children were trafficked to produce child sexual exploitation material for profit, according to a study entitled ‘Scale of Harm Prevalence Study’ that the International Justice Mission commissioned,” she said.

Hontiveros added that the passage of RA 11930 or the OSAEC and Anti-Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials (CSAEM) Act in 2022 has provided law enforcement agencies additional policy tools to investigate OSEAC-related offenses, but the rapid improvement in technologies “has proven challenging for even the most committed law enforcer,” thus, an inquiry on these crimes should be made so they can craft measures on how to prevent these from happening.

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