Men force wives into "cybersex"

CEBU, Philippines - There are not only parents pushing their children to strip before a webcam in exchange for money, but also husbands forcing their wives to do the same.

This was bared by Sr. Supt. Anthony Obenza, director of the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office, who said that they have identified three barangays in their area where there are cybersex operations.

Obenza was a guest in the Talakayan sa Isyung Pulis (TSIP) Forum at Camp Sergio Osmeña yesterday.

He said that there are women, whose husbands encourage them to find “chatmates” on the Internet and give in to the whims of these people in exchange for money.

The LLCPO said that they have identified at least 60 women, who are in the trade and they are from Barangays Basak, Buaya, and Marigondon.

The police has already conducted a forum in these areas and informed the women about the effects of such practice on their lives.

The LLCPO chief said that they will continue to monitor the activities of these women.

Efforts

“Your Philippine National Police is a capable agency, we are continuously upgrading our capability to address new crimes (cybersex),” said Police Regional Office (PRO)-7 Director Chief Supt. Ager Ontog Jr. during the same forum.

“Cyber crimes are a new phenomenon; especially here in the province, siguro laging nangyayari ito, but in different forms. Siguro before, it was prostitution ang pinaka prominent na crime na nangyayari. But lately, we have seen an upsurge in the use of information technology in exploiting our women and children” said Ontog.

With this “new form of crime” threatening the entire province, the regional director promised that they will use all possible means to increase their skills in fighting cyber crimes in the entire region.

According to him, the PRO-7 currently only has 30 trained personnel out of 7,000 police personnel throughout the province to handle cybersex cases.

He said that this is clearly not enough to address the cybersex problem.

Foreign Assistance

In order to bolster their efforts against cyber crimes, the police have coordinated with foreign agencies to help them address the problem.

Among the foreign agencies are the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States and the Australian Federal Police.

“We request their assistance in providing training to our policemen in the basics of investigation of cyber crimes” he said.

The PRO-7 is currently dependant on the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in such cases with regards to handling and processing of evidence.

“I want to increase the awareness and the training of personnel on basic cyber crime investigations, detecting crimes like this, and preserving evidence and eventually transmitting this evidence to more competent and more technically equipped units of the PNP” Ontog said. 

Their only contribution to these kinds of cases is to merely gather facts and educate the public of the effects of cyber crimes to society.

“We assure the public that although we lack man power and training as of today, we are doing steps to improve our situation”

Ontog is also calling on the local government officials to lend more support to the police.

“Masydong importante ang participation nang ating mga barangay, at ng ating LGUs dito, sapagkat ang impormasyon ay nangagaling sa kanila, ang pagsisimulan nang ating mga imbistigasyon” Ontog said.

He also said that if anyone has any information regarding cyber crimes, they must immediately inform the nearest police station’s women and children’s desk for assistance.

Meeting with Gwen

Ontog and Sr. Supt. Patrocinio Comendador, director of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) met Governor Gwendolyn Garcia at Capitol yesterday to talk about peace and order situation in the province.

A coordinated effort against cyber crimes between the provincial government and law enforcement agencies was given emphasis.

Ontog stressed cyber crime is not a very serious problem isolated here in Cebu as it is happening all over the country.

The good thing he said is that they have several successes here in Cebu City and Cebu Province because it creates awareness among citizens.

“Nakikita naman ninyo ang earnest effort nang ating local government unit, nang ating provincial government at nang ating law enforcement agencies para nitong problemang ito,” Ontog said.

Comendador also added that several successful operations do not necessarily mean rampant cyber sex crimes in Cebu.—/NLQ (FREEMAN)