Stronger anti-child pornography law pushed

MANILA, Philippines — Assistant Majority Leader and Rizal Rep. Juan Fidel Nograles has proposed a measure that would strengthen the government’s campaign against child pornography in the country following the reported increase of child abuse cases during the coronavirus pandemic.

Nograles, also House justice committee vice chair, recently filed a bill seeking amendment to Republic Act 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Act.

He pushed for the measure after the Department of Justice (DOJ) said that 279,166 cases of online child sex abuse had been recorded in the Philippines from March 1 to May 24, 2020, compared to 76,561 cases during the same period in 2019, based on data from the US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

“I appeal to our colleagues here in Congress to prioritize the passage of this bill. We need to do more to protect our children from abuse,” he added.

He explained that the law has conflicting provisions that have hampered information and communications technology service providers (ICTSP) from effectively monitoring online traffickers of child pornography.

Nograles’ House Bill No. 7633, or the Anti-Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children Act of 2020, specifically seeks to amend Section 9 of RA 9775, which the Philippine Chamber of Telecom Operators said has been preventing them from blocking child pornography websites.

“This is an urgent issue that Congress must immediately address, and comes on the heels of reports of an unprecedented number of abuse cases during the ongoing pandemic,” he stressed.

“We believe that this simple amendment would go a long way in empowering our ICTSPs who are key partners in our anti-child pornography campaign so that they can nip instances of abuse in the bud,” explained Nograles.

The said provision allows internet service providers to install software that could block access to and transmittal of child pornography and notify authorities within seven days of detection of any internet address that may contain child pornography.

However, the same provision also states that “nothing in this section may be construed to require an ISP to engage in the monitoring of any user, subscriber or customer or the content of any communication of any such person.”

HB 7633 proposes to amend this provision to read as: “Section 9. Duties of Information and Communication Technology Service Providers (ICTSP). All ICTSPs shall install available technology, program or software to ensure that access to or transmittal of any form of child pornography will be blocked or filtered.

All ICTSPs shall notify the Philippine National Police (PNP) or the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) within seven days from obtaining facts and circumstances that any form of child pornography is being committed or has been committed using its server or facility or platform.

All ICTSPs shall maintain the privacy of the data captured relevant to this section while complying with notification requirements of this section. Provided, that no ISP shall be held civilly liable for damages on account of any notice given in good faith in compliance with this section.

Provided further that the data captured solely for complying to this Section shall be exempt from the application of the Data Privacy Act.”
The proposed measure also introduces a section that bars foreign nationals who have committed any sex-related offenses from entering the Philippines.