EDITORIAL — Hidden and dangerous

In a recent editorial we said that child exploitation activities haven’t really stopped here in Cebu, but goes on in places where perpetrators think they cannot be found.

And now an operation by the Women and Children Protection Center-Visayas Field Unit last February 13 led to the arrest of a woman in Olango Island, Lapu-Lapu City, who exploited her two daughters.

Authorities said the woman made her daughters, one aged 15 the other 13, perform for clients online. We don’t want to go into details here, but suffice it to say the suspect charged viewers ?2,000 for each time one of her children revealed her private parts. Sick, right?

She would later justify her actions by saying her job at a bakery didn’t make ends meet.

To take advantage of underage children, to force them to perform acts which they themselves know are wrong, and to profit from their misfortune is already despicable. To do so is to scar them for life, making them think they are just trash or items to be taken advantage of.

But for someone to commit this crime using their own children, that’s another level of desperation or, dare we say, twistedness.

We want Cebu to be known among foreigners for some things; like being the cradle of Christianity in this part of the world, for having tourist attractions like the whale sharks in Oslob, for hosting the Sinulog events whenever January rolls in, or for being the cultural melting pot of the Philippines. But being a source for child exploitation materials isn’t one of those things we want to be known for.

Stopping online exploitation of children doesn’t fall on the police and authorities alone. Because such illicit activities usually take place in private homes, it’s not easy for authorities to be informed of these. That’s why the help of the community is essential in stopping such nefarious operations.