CEBU, Philippines - A fashion photo-grapher was arrested yesterday by the operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation-7 for allegedly doing a nude photo session with a minor inside his house in Barangay Punta Princesa.
The suspect was identified as Michael Angelo Ortega, of Don Bosco Proper.
He was caught in possession of the nude photos of a 17-year-old boy during a raid led by agent Rey Villordon. The NBI operatives were armed with a search warrant issued by Regional Trial Court Branch 6 Judge Ester Veloso on January 7, 2015 for violation of Section 5(b) of Republic Act 7610 or child abuse.
NBI-7 assistant director Dominador Cimafranca said that sometimes in December last year, the parents of the minor sought their help after seeing the nude photo of their son posted on Facebook.
Cimafranca said the minor was allegedly enticed to be a commercial model. The minor was allegedly paid for the session.
The NBI started conducting surveillance operations on December 17, 2014 to confirm the veracity of the complaint. Villordon said during operation, they seized photographs, laptop and cameras of the suspect as evidence.
Ortega’s partner who refused to be named said that the suspect was a freelance photographer long before they became partners. He added that before they did the shoot, there was a casting call posted on Facebook for freelance models to be part in their collections which was supposed to feature top 10 males in Cebu.
There was reportedly an exchange of private messages in social networking sites between the minor and Ortega.
“We were under the impression that he (minor) was able to meet the age criteria (legal age) it was only right after the shoot that he admitted that he was a minor,” he said.
He added that few days after they posted the pictures for the collection online, they received a call from the mother of the minor, asking them not to include her son’s photos since he is a minor.
“Right after the call, we immediately turned down the photos as requested by the mother giving her the assurance that the photos were deleted. The mother was cool when we talked that time,” he said.
Ortega’s partner said that it was the minor who strongly reacted, insisting that the pictures still went viral in the social networking site.
“We were not aware nga mikalat gihapon nga pictures even if we deleted those in our database,” he pointed, adding as of the moment they are seeking for legal assistance and trying to keep in touch with the mother.
He denied the allegation of child abuse, claiming that they always make sure that their models know what they are doing during the photo shoot. (FREEMAN)