LGUs meet to set curbs on cybersex

By Luige A. del Puerto Inquirer News Service

A PEDOPHILE checks into an Internet cafe, logs onto a website, and starts downloading nude photos of children.

Or from the privacy of his home, he logs onto a website--maintained somewhere in the Philippines--and begins to watch a streaming video of children performing lewd acts.

Under Philippine laws, not much can be done about the Internet cafe or the pedophile.

The police had raided several such establishments but efforts to prosecute their owners had largely failed. And the police are not wont to enter a person's home without a warrant.

But not for long--hopefully.

Representatives of local government units in Metro Manila and its outskirts and officials of the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) and the Office of the Special Envoy on Transnational Crimes (OSETC) met Tuesday in Camp Crame, Quezon City, to discuss a draft ordinance that, once enacted, would give LGUs the teeth to clamp down on cybersex dens and regulate the operation of Internet cafes.

"Child pornography in the Philippines is severe," Alberto Muyot of Unicef's Child Protection Section told the Inquirer. "We cannot wait for a republic act."

OSETC chief Florencio Fianza said the ordinance could "serve as the first line of defense against the sexual exploitation of Filipino children."

"This is a local response to a global problem, and we sought out the LGUs because they can address this faster," Fianza said.

He noted that many of those who establish cybersex dens in the Philippines come from western countries, taking advantage of the lack of laws against Internet pornography here.

"If it gets too hot for them here, they simply leave. Now if we could only enact this ordinance, if we could put them in jail for at least six months--and I tell you jail in the Philippines is no bed of roses--that would make them think twice about coming here," Fianza said.

Under the ordinance, the owner of an Internet cafe must maintain a centralized users' logbook, ensure that the Internet rooms are visible to the public, and refuse entry to children during school hours.

The draft says it shall be unlawful to "perform or exhibit in front of a digital camera, computer video camera, camera-equipped mobile phone, webcam" sexual intercourse and other lewd acts