Bill seeks to protect children from harmful content, cyberviolence

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Leila De Lima has filed a bill to ensure the protection of children against exploitation and other internet-based crimes.

"For children especially, the internet provides unique educational opportunities and even serves as their primary source for research. However, the onset of this technology has also brought about a different venue for child predators of crime," the chair of the Senate committee on social justice, welfare and development said in a release Monday.

De Lima refiled Senate Bill 621, which aims to require commercial establishments, schools and other public institutions to use appropriate filtering devices that will restrict children’s access to harmful materials online.

These materials, she said, include violent pictures, graphic image files, articles and any material designed to lure children to the use of alcohol, drugs and other dangerous substances.

The bill also proposes the creation of an Online Child Safety Council under the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

If it becomes a law, all internet service providers and licensed commercial establishment owners shall report suspected and actual operation of websites containing harmful online materials to the Online Child Safety Council or to the nearest law enforcement office.

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Verbal abuse, sexual messages

The 2016 National Baseline Survey on Violence Children found that close to half of Filipino children aged 13 to 17 years old have experienced cyberviolence.

About a third of types of cyberviolence against children were in the form of verbal abuse over the internet or phone, while a fourth were sent sexual messages.

“These are alarming figures that should put both the state and our society on notice with the imperative to increase protection to the most vulnerable members of our society—the children,” De Lima said.

According to “Second Revolution: 30 years of child rights and the unfinished agenda,”  a report released in June on the the status of children worldwide, said new online risks have emerged even as the situation of children has generally improved three decades after the passage of the Convention on the Rights of a Child in 1989.

"As access to the internet expands, online violence is a growing concern for children around the world… Risks include bullying and discrimination, often with a gender dimension; grooming for sexual exploitation; and sharing of extreme content, including pornography and violent images," the report said.

"Although the relationship between online and offline violence is debated, there is evidence that online abuse creates a permissive atmosphere in which physical violence can be more easily triggered," it added.