MANILA, Philippines (Update 2, August 25 11:46 a.m.) — In line with the government’s “war” against online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC), Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla warned that internet service providers that do not cooperate in tracking down abusers may also be charged for online sexual exploitation.
At the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum on Wednesday, Remulla said that the Department of Justice is already working with the Anti-Money Laundering Council to help track the online payments involved in the illegal operations as “billions of dollars are exchanged on a daily basis.”
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However, he continued to call on internet service providers (ISPs) to work with the inter-agency council against OSEC.
“If the ISPs do not cooperate, maybe there’s a pattern that they missed, we will also include them for the people who will be charged for online sexual exploitation. We are that serious,” Remulla said in mixed English and Filipino.
The inter-agency task force is also calling on telecommunications companies to start putting filters to track down those consuming this content.
“The NTC (National Telecommunications Commission) can issue fines on [a] daily basis for non-compliance, that's been done before."
“It has to be steep but of course, they can be closed down if they become if they refuse to cooperate,” Remulla said.
He added he will tap the cybercrime division of the DOJ and the National Bureau of Investigation to study how they could ask ISPs to comply with their operations.
PLDT: 1.3 billion attempts blocked
The PLDT Group said that they have already invested P2 billion into technology that allows them to help prevent online sexual abuse and exploitation against children.
"We already have legally compliant technology with adequate filters in place that help prevent OSAEC and it should be noted that PLDT and Smart are at the forefront of initiatives that help protect Filipino children online," PLDT Group Chief Information Security Officer Angel Redoble told Philstar.com via e-mail.
"We have blocked 1.3 billion attempts to open web addresses that host OSAEC-related materials since we launched our child protection platform last year and added close to 400,000 URLs to our blacklist."
The PLDT Group said that the users who try to reach these explicit materials will be led to a page informing them that the web page they are trying to reach violates Philippine laws on child pornography.
The group’s platform is backed by Palo Alto Networks’ technology that enables an automated scan of user searches against PLDT’s list of explicit child abuse content.
The group is also working with the Internet Watch Foundation and the Project Arachnid of the Canadian Center for Child Protection, which gives the group access to more open-sourced links and other data shared by law enforcement agencies.
Converge records nearly 4,000 hits on illegal sites
Converge ICT, in a separate statement, said it blocked 135,000 unique URLs that feature child sexual abuse content in the past two quarters that get an average of 3,800 hits per minute.
Converge said it has invested over P100 million to its network security systems to combat OSAEC.
“We understand that children are very vulnerable to harmful content, particularly when exploring and using the digital space,” Converge Chief Strategy Officer Benjamin Azada said in a statement on Thursday.
“As primary contributors in the ICT industry, we take it upon ourselves that children are protected and that their right to privacy, freedom of expression, information, education and non-discrimination will be upheld.”
In June, Converge joined the Inter-Agency Council against Child Pornography under the leadership of the Department of Social Welfare and Development along with child protection groups. It also works with law enforcement agencies for reporting illegal content online.
They also partnered with the Stairway Foundation and the Internet Watch Foundation to support the company’s initiatives against the online abuse of children.
The International Justice Mission in a 2019 study found that the Philippines is a “global hotspot” for OSEC by using 2010 to 2017 data from participating law enforcement agencies.
Government officials in a Malacañang press briefing on Tuesday noted that the situation may be further aggravated by the prolonged COVID-19 lockdown, as it is “easy” to set up operations with the country’s connectivity.
READ: Philippines to go after those contributing to online sexual exploitation of children
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in a 2020 statement noted that “the economic hardship brought about by the pandemic is compelling many Filipino families to participate in this online sexual trafficking just to survive.”
FROM INTERAKSYON: Sale of teens’ sexual images on the rise in Philippines amid COVID-19 pandemic — report
Aside from asking cooperation from the AMLC and ISPs, Remulla is also hoping that other countries would share their records of online sexual abusers and exploiters so the criminals' movements and operations may be tracked down.
He warned that these abuses not only happen online, but some of the pedophiles would actually book tickets and visit Manila to abuse the children in-person. — Kaycee Valmonte