‘Ako para sa bata’

It’s a fact of life that in this digitally-driven day and age, gadgets are indispensable. They’re everywhere. From the earliest years of life, parents use their mobile phones to keep children entertained, so they grow up exposed to the Internet and all it entails.

Some would argue that’s not always a good thing. Yes, the Internet can be a valuable learning tool and a rich source of information on almost anything — it can help kids learn how to spell and count and get their homework done faster — but all this early exposure to it can also have its downside.

The dangers that lurk in the Internet’s dark corners are real, and the problem is that it is often difficult for parents, teachers and other stakeholders to fight this invisible menace.

“Children are exposed to the cyber world as early as infancy when parents use mobile phones to entertain babies. Parents readily hand gadgets to their child without any safeguards against harmful things that lurk in the cyber world, such as cyber-bullying, online solicitation, exposure to violence and sex, even online grooming for sex,” notes Dr. Naomi Navarro-Poca.

A child protection specialist and pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Poca is the chair of Ako Para sa Bata, an international conference that deals with the welfare of children — and this year (which is very timely), the talks and workshops at the conference will focus mainly on how kids are being affected by what’s on the Internet.

We often hear reports in the media about children being cyber-bullied, or even victimized by sex predators in cyberspace. If it is important to protect children offline, so is it important to do the same online, and how to do that is what the conference is all about.

“Children need guidance and protection. Without intervention, we, the adults, are allowing the abnormal to become the normal,” she says.

The conference will be held on Dec. 1 and 2 at Cebu’s Marco Polo Plaza Hotel. It is organized by the Child Protection Network Foundation and co-presented by Energen and UNICEF Philippines.

It will feature talks and discussions on topics relevant to children and the Internet, such as Social Cyberspace: A revolutionary, perplexing, dangerous world; Online Child Abuse and Exploitation: Global Threats, Challenges, Data and Initiatives; Domestic Data on Online Child Abuse; The Developing Adolescent in the Digital Generation; Challenges of Cyberculture on Education and on the Filipino Family; and Violence Against Children in the Philippines: The Facts; and Efforts to Fight Online Child Abuse.

Dr. Yvonne Redoble, the conference’s Scientific Committee chair, says that invited speakers and experts will help participants understand online child abuse, which includes cyber-bullying, unwanted exposure and online solicitation, risky behaviors — such as “sexting,” Internet addiction, even sex videos — and the effect of cyberculture on the brain development of children, among others. “Cyberwellness and good parenting in the cyberage will also be discussed.”

In addition, the results of interesting studies, such as a review of relevant Philippine laws and policies on online sexual exploitation of children will be presented during the two-day conference.

Proceeds of the Ako Para sa Bata conference will help support the Child Protection Network’s goal of providing abused women and children access to medical and psychological care as well as legal protection. The Child Protection Network, which now counts more than 70 woman and child protection units, has grown from a single unit in the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) to more than 70 across nine cities and 41 provinces in the country.

To date, CPN has provided treatment for more than 45,171 children, according to its director, lawyer Katrina Legarda who is also taking an active role in this year’s conference.

Dr. Bernadette Madrid, executive director of the Child Protection Network discloses that one of the major goals of the conference is to come out with a declaration of commitment to protect children from online child abuse.

Legarda urges both individuals and organizations involved in the protection of women and children to take part and help advance the cause. “We hope to reach as many as possible and let them see the value of protecting the Filipino child. We hope more people will join our nationwide pledge by saying, ‘Ako para sa bata!’”

Conference fee is P3,500. For interested delegates and sponsors of this worthwhile conference for the child, call the organizer at 404-3954 or e-mail [email protected] and [email protected].

The organizing committee of Ako Para Sa Bata conference is composed of doctors, lawyers, social workers and those in the frontlines of child protection work. Also in the photo is Irene Martel-Francisco, president of the Child Protection Network Foundation (back row, fifth from right).