US - Phl cooperation against sex cyber crimes

Joint efforts of the US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) as well as the Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Social Welfare and Development resulted in the successful conviction of an American who was sexually exploiting Filipino children. The 54-year-old pedophile – who was given a 50-year prison term – used Facebook to convince a 14-year-old girl to produce sexually explicit images that included sadism and masochism and send them through the internet.

When the sex offender got wind that an investigation was being conducted, he contacted the victim’s mother with instructions to delete images of himself and not to talk to US law enforcement authorities who flew to the Philippines as part of their investigation. The victim and her mother subsequently traveled to the US to testify against the sex fiend – resulting in the successful prosecution of the offender.

The HSI lauded the DOJ and its Office of Cybercrime for intensifying efforts to combat child pornography, expressing gratitude for their cooperation and saying that collective efforts can bring to justice pedophiles preying on children. In October last year, the FBI, the NBI and the Philippine National Police conducted a joint operation to go after a residence in Taguig that was being used as a cybersex hub, producing child porn for online sex chats and shows.

The “house of porn” was the base of operations for a web-streaming service that live-streamed sexual abuse involving two boys aged five and 11, and a two-year-old girl – and this “online service” was being operated by a 74-year-old woman and her granddaughters.

The FBI, along with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, has been intensifying the crackdown against child abusers, expanding efforts on an international scale through Operation Cross Country where they partner with law enforcement agencies in Canada, Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines and other countries where cybersex trafficking has been proliferating.

The cybersex industry has become a billion-dollar business and it has been booming in the Philippines. Sadly, the biggest victims are children whose parents even act as their “agents,” selling them to foreigners and using poverty to justify their actions.

Just recently, a 23-year-old Filipina was apprehended after two years of being on the run for working with an Australian pedophile accused of sexually exploiting and murdering children. The woman was identified as the “star” in a video known as “Destruction of Daisy” which showed her torturing and sexually abusing a one-year-old baby girl. The abuse was so graphic that NBI agents who saw it admitted crying, calling it the worst video ever in all their years of going after child predators.

Child sex trafficking has become a complex, global problem that needs all the resources and cooperation of law enforcement agencies all over the world because it is a heinous crime that preys on children, many of whom might not recover from the trauma they suffer in the hands of predators and monsters.

Earthquake warning signs

The 6.5-magnitude earthquake that devastated Surigao province last Friday is a grim reminder about the importance of disaster preparedness, especially in Metro Manila where the “big one” – a 7.2-magnitude temblor – could happen anytime.  The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivols) has been warning about the Marikina Valley Fault that extends from Quezon City, Marikina, Pasig, Parañaque, Taguig, Muntinlupa, Cavite, Laguna, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija and all the way to Dingalan, Aurora.

Phivolcs has been distributing high-resolution maps depicting the areas that could be affected, but many agree Metro Manila is not prepared to deal with a disaster of such magnitude. People must realize the importance not only of preparedness, but also of coordinated efforts between agencies in conducting humanitarian and disaster relief efforts.

Now more than ever, the Philippines has to enhance its alliance with countries like the US which has been a part of our disaster preparedness efforts over the years. In fact, one of the major components of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement is humanitarian and disaster response because it allows the quick prepositioning of relief supplies in case of a major emergency or disaster.

During the recent multinational drill conducted in Singapore dubbed as “Exercise Coordinated Response”, representatives from the armed forces of 15 participating countries which include the Philippines, US, Canada, the UK, China, South Korea and China, as well as disaster-relief agencies like the Red Cross, Red Crescent and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and several others, took part in simulated exercises to gauge regional interoperability when disaster strikes.

A mock scenario depicting twin disasters – an erupting volcano followed by a category 5 typhoon – saw the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the US and Singapore practicing real-life scenarios to gauge how they can maximize cooperation to bring in military equipment into a country for disaster relief purposes.

Aside from providing a platform where they can change information, one of the biggest lesson that resonated among participants is that “politics has no place in disaster relief” – as articulated by the director of the US Center for Excellence in Disaster Management.

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