On Sunday, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian urged the the Department of Justice and the Philippine National Police (PNP) Anti-Cybercrime Group to strengthen their efforts against students who are allegedly selling obscene photos of themselves to raise funds to support their education.
Gatchalian issued the call after learning of an alleged online "Christmas sale" of their sensual photos and videos to buy gadgets for their siblings and pay for internet bills in support of their distance learning.
Nakakabahalang dahil sa mga suliraning dinudulot ng pandemya, ang ating mga kabataan ay nahaharap sa matinding panganib na maging biktima ng pang-aabuso at karahasan. Pinagsasamantalahan ng mga masasamang-loob ang pangangailangan ng ating mga mag-aaral at dapat itong labanan ng ating pamahalaan,
Gatchalian said.
According to a news report by The Philippine Online Student Tambayan (POST), a news portal on the student sector, some students use #AlterPH, #AlterPinay, and #AlterPhilippines on Twitter to sell their photos and videos.
These students use what they earn to buy gadgets for their siblings and pay for internet bills. A Christmas bundle, which contains an array of photos and videos that sometimes reveal the face of sellers, is sold for as low PHP150.
Between March 1 to May 24 this year, there were 279,166 cases of online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC) recorded in Metro Manila, a spike of 264 percent from the 76,561 cases recorded from the same period last year.
Gatchalian called on the Department of Education (DepEd) to boost its child protection program, noting that child protection committees (CPC) in schools are mandated to identify students who may be experiencing abuse and exploitation.
No comments:
Post a Comment