President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday said that the government will not spare those who sexually abuse or exploit children as he urged law enforcement authorities to boost efforts to combat online sexual abuse.
In an Instagram post, Marcos Jr. said his administration will protect Filipino children from sexual abuse.
"Determined to protect our children and show no mercy to offenders in eradicating all forms of child abuse," Marcos said.
On the other hand, Department of Justice (DOJ) Assistant Secretary Jose Dominic Clavano said in a Palace briefing that Marcos was "visibly distressed" during their sectoral meeting on Wednesday regarding child abuse.
The DOJ has been told to bring more cases to court, and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) has been told to tell local governments how to report these crimes.
"These cases are very alarming. Yesterday, at the meeting, the President was visibly distressed, very bothered, and clearly stressed with the information that was relayed to him which is why he gave the directive, a very strong directive to the DOJ, to the (Philippine National Police) and other law enforcement agencies to further intensify the efforts. Not to say that we have not yet put any effort into this, there are a lot of key result areas which we are monitoring, which have been mentioned by ED over here, but his directive is to further intensify these efforts, to further look into how we can come up with a holistic solution,'' Clavano said.
''Because this cannot only be done by whole-of-government approach but if not, whole-of-nation approach which includes the private sector, the social media platforms where these crimes usually occur,'' Clavano added.
In the same Palace briefing, the National Coordinating Council on Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children (OSAEC) and Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials (CSAEM) officer-in-charge Margarita Magsaysay said that illegal activities are common in Cagayan de Oro, Iligan, and Taguig City.
She also said that people have been doing these things for as low as P200 or P300 each time.
"They target the vulnerable. They are the children who are in poorer side of the country, who are in the rural areas. They are being targeted because they are easy targets because OSAEC is (a) financially lucrative activity. If the victims would go for it, they are being [paid] P300, P200 just for showing CSAEM, showing nude pictures," Magsaysay said.
