Brgy captains urged: Monitor cybersex

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu Provincial Board has urged barangay captains to closely monitor and strictly implement the laws against cybersex in their respective barangays.

During its regular session held in Aloguinsan town last Monday, the PB approved the resolution of Board Members Arleigh Jay Sitoy and Sun Shimura calling for the aggressive campaign against cybersex.

“There is an urgent need to address the issue considering that cybersex can greatly affect the wonderful image of the Cebu province,” Sitoy said.

Cybersex is a virtual sex encounter through the Internet with the use of webcams, by inviting people in other countries to watch Filipino young women perform sexual acts for a fee.

Sitoy said with the advent of technological advancement, some innovative entrepreneurs have taken advantage of Cebu tourism boom by engaging in another form of high-tech promotional human trafficking which is cybersex.

According to Wikipedia, it is estimated that there are 10,000 young girls trafficked into sex slavery in Cebu.

Cebu remains a destination, source and transit area for human trafficking, where women and children victims are brought to be “processed”.

Cebu has been the destination of international and domestic trafficking of children, aged from 11 to 17 years old. Earlier, PB Member Agnes Magpale said that trafficking and sexual abuse and child labor remain the top issues confronting Cebu today.

Magpale, co-chair of the Provincial Council for the Welfare of Children (PCWC), said children trafficking and sexual abuse remain a grave concern.

Magpale refused to name the town or city and only hinted that it is within Metro Cebu where about 50 households in the area are into cybersex.

Report said that the mother is paid P200 to allow her daughter to pose nude in front of the webcam while the internet owner is paid about $30.

No less than Senator Jamby Madrigal disclosed that cybersex has become a billion-dollar underground industry in the Philippines as its proliferation in the internet has reached 100,000 dollars a day.

Republic Act 7610 or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act provides special protection to children from all forms of abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation and discrimination and other conditions, prejudicial to their to their development. — (FREEMAN)