EDITORIAL - Child abusers

Following the arrest and conviction of a pedophile in Britain, law enforcers from three countries are on the trail of a Philippine ring streaming child sex abuse videos on the Internet. Cyberspace has made vast amounts of information available at one’s fingertips, but it has also been a boon to purveyors of pornography, including those exploiting children.

Most of the children are from impoverished families in developing countries. And it’s not surprising that the Philippines has been found to be one of the countries where the child sex trade is flourishing.

Child welfare advocacy groups have expressed concern that children in areas hit by recent disasters in the Visayas and Mindanao are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation. The world’s oldest profession has long been driven by economic need, and many children are forced into the flesh trade by their own parents or guardians.

Orphans are among the most vulnerable. A jump in their numbers in the areas devastated by Typhoon Yolanda has raised concern about human trafficking. Last Monday the National Bureau of Investigation raided an orphanage owned by an American in Lucena City, arresting him and two Filipinos running the institution after some of the wards complained of rape and sexual molestation. The NBI was reportedly tipped off by the US Homeland Security.

Without such tips from overseas, can the Philippine government confront the problem of child sex abuse? Officials of the Department of Justice admitted yesterday that the government has limited resources to launch an intensified crackdown on those who engage in sexual exploitation of children.

There is an Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking and there are units dedicated to fighting cybercrimes including Internet pornography, but Philippine law enforcers still need a lot of help from their counterparts overseas to track down purveyors of child porn. Laws against human trafficking have been strengthened. But a temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court, as usual redefining the meaning of temporary, has suspended the implementation of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

British authorities, in coordination with their counterparts in the United States and Australia, have launched an international sweep of those involved in the pedophile ring. The Philippines, which is home to many of the victims, should do its share by confronting the scourge with greater resolve and sufficient resources.