Parents warned: Guard kids vs cyber porn

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang yesterday urged parents to monitor their children’s activities on the Internet so they won’t be exposed to cyber pornography and prostitution.          

Secretary Herminio Coloma of the Presidential Communications Operations Office made the call following reports that a Dutch non-government organization used a computer-generated image of a Filipino child in their fight against human trafficking.         

The report said that about a thousand adults expressed willingness to pay just to watch the “child” perform sexual acts on the Internet. Coloma said the issue should serve as a wake-up call for authorities to strengthen law enforcement against child trafficking and pornography.  “The government, along with the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, Council for the Welfare of Children, Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council, and the Inter-Agency Council Against Child Pornography, have established a system and partnership that will engage various stakeholders in the prevention, protection, and prosecution,” Coloma said.         

Earlier, Coloma hinted that the Philippines might work with the Dutch non-government organization in the campaign against child pornography and prostitution.        

He said the government might call the NGO to find out if there are differences in the way they implement their anti-human trafficking policies.         

He said the government has an inter-agency body specifically tasked to combat human trafficking.         

With the use of the virtual image, the Dutch NGO was able to identify over 1,000 adults from 65 countries who were willing to pay children from developing nations in exchange for performing sexual acts on the Internet.