Risa wants online child sexual abuse probed

Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros has filed a resolution seeking to investigate the alarming spike in cases of Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (OSAEC) in the country.

In filing Senate Resolution 1307, Hontiveros said thousands of Filipino minors were victimized by or involved by OSAEC-related criminal activities over chat platforms as reported by Deep Web Konek, a group of cyber-security experts.

“[T]he rise of end-to-end encryption, while providing privacy and security to regular conversations, has also led to the impunity of sexual predators, whose illegal activities can fly under the radar and below law enforcement security,” she said.

Citing the group’s report, Hontiveros said more than 100 channels were found to be dedicated to illicit digital content, with the largest channel boasting over 100,000 members and accumulating more than 40,000 digital files such as videos and photos.

The resolution stated that transactions were primarily conducted through e-wallets, particularly GCash, with mule accounts and disposable digital wallets used to obscure the money trail.

“[T]he same report also documented cases of parents being complicit in the trafficking of their own children, with one woman selling over 200 files with OSAEC content of her own child,” the resolution said.

According to a study entitled “Sclae of Harm Prevalence Study,” nearly half a million Filipino children were trafficked to produce child sexual exploitation materials to profit in 2022.