Immediate passage of porno bill sought

CEBU, Philippines – The Department of Social Welfare and Development will soon launch a signature campaign to call for the immediate passage of anti-child pornography bill.

DSWD Undersecretary Alicia Bala directed all their regional offices nationwide to start the campaign as part of their support for the bill.

A manifesto that was already distributed to the regional offices contained information regarding child pornography as a “visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving children under the age 18, it is not only a crime, it is child abuse.”

The forms for the campaign were also distributed to all DSWD sub-offices and centers as well as other agencies that are members of the Regional Sub-Committee for the Welfare of the Children.

 “Any visual depiction, including any photograph, film, picture or computer generated image or picture, whether made or produced by electronic, mechanical or other means, of sexual explicit conduct involving the use of minor is considered as child pornography,” Bala said.

A UNICEF study shows that social factor is among the reasons why children have been victims of pornography. This includes commercial sexual exploitation of children, sex tourism, poverty, peer influence, availability of technology and cultural factors.

According to DSWD, it was in 2005 when the Philippines signed the United Nations Protocol on the rights of the child.

“The protocol requires the signatories to recognize child pornography as a crime against children and to treat any act that contributes to production or distribution of child pornography as a criminal offense, within two years of ratification,” it said.

In order to protect the children from being exploited, the Anti-Child Pornography Alliance in the Philippines launched the Batingaw Network on September 15, 2007.

Batingaw is the largest anti-pornography movement in the country and the reason for the declaration of September 28 as “National Day of Awareness against Child Pornography.” — AJ de la Torre/LPM (THE FREEMAN)