Palace urged to name anti-pornography czar

More than 60 lawmakers urged President Arroyo yesterday to name an "anti-pornography czar."

They were led by Representatives Francis Nepomuceno of Pampanga, Robert Ace Barbers of Surigao del Norte, and Edmundo Reyes of Marinduque.

"This heinous crime against the children must be solved with urgency," the lawmakers said. "We cannot afford to delay and prolong the agony of the innocent kids."

The lawmakers have expressed alarm over reports that a South Korean is facing charges of molesting 11 girls, aged between 13 and 17, in Cebu City.

Jeong Keon Lee, who was charged with 10 counts of lasciviousness and rape before the Cebu Prosecutor’s Office, had reportedly offered his victims scholarships before forcing them to satisfy his lust.

Quoting a University of the Philippines study, Barbers and Nepomuceno said pornography is one of the root causes of sexually related crimes.

Barbers said figures from the Department of Social and Welfare and Development showed that 21,000 children have been victims of sexual abuse.

"The call of the times is to destroy the tentacles of porno and child sex abuse," he said.

According to a United Nations study, 60,000 children, aged between five to 15, are working as prostitutes in Puerta Galera, Cebu, Bohol, Pagsanjan, Cagayan de Oro City and Davao, he added.

The lawmakers are pushing for Aldo Filomeno to be the country’s first "anti-pornography czar."

They said Filomeno has more than seven years experience in fighting smut, porn films and VCDs, obscene songs, phone sex, and lewd shows, among others.

"Filomeno will surely give justice to the urgent clamor to solve the problem of pornography, and child sex abuse," the lawmakers said in their joint statement. — Paolo Romero