DOJ stresses digital safety, responsible internet use

The Department of Justice (DOJ), through its National Coordination Center against Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children and Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials (NCC-OSAEC-CSAEM), has underscored increasing the public's awareness on digital safety and responsible internet use on Tuesday during the commemoration of Safer Internet Day (SID).

“Real justice for all is never limited to physical spaces but extends to the bounds of cyberspace. May this occasion be the mark of our stronger collaboration towards creating a safer internet for all,” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said in a statement.

The theme of this year's month-long celebration of SID is “Digital Bayanihan, Para sa Kabataang Ligtas at Protektado Online,” which highlights the significance of a whole-of-nation approach in providing safer digital spaces for Filipino children.

The SID also pushes for the “bayanihan” spirit among government actors, civil society organizations (CSOs), and the private sector to ensure the internet and cyberspace as a safer space for everyone.

As part of the move, NCC-OSAEC-CSAEM OIC Executive Director Barbara Mae Pagdilao-Flores said multiple government agencies are currently crafting guidelines for a child offender registry, which will serve as a database of international fugitives for OSAEC.

Undersecretary-in-Charge for the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) Nicholas Felix Tyalso said that the Bureau of Immigration has close ties with its counterparts in other countries, including the United States and countries in Europe.

"Malalim ang pakikipag-ugnayan ng Bureau of Immigration sa ating counterparts sa ibang bansa tulad ng Amerika at ibang bansa sa Europe kung saan ang mga alagad ng batas doon ay inaabiso [tayo] kung may papasok dito na mga convicted child sex offender o suspected pedophile upang maharang ang pagpasok nila sa bansa at mapigil ang kanilang nais na mambiktima ng mga batang Pilipino," he said.

(Their law enforcement agencies inform us of convicted child sex offenders or suspected pedophiles in order to hinder their entry into the country and prevent their plan to victimize Filipino children.)

Pagdilao-Flores said they are targeting to come up with the database within this year.

Ysrael Diloy of non-government organization Stairway Foundation, meanwhile, said children's unsafe online experiences are "underreported."

"Maraming 'underreporting' kasi maraming mga bata 'yung hindi nari-realize na 'yung nangyayari sa  kanila ay online sexual abuse exploitation. Usually it takes a trigger activity or a trigger event in order to facilitate disclosure," Diloy said.

(There is a lot of underreporting because many children do not realize that what is happening to them is online sexual abuse and exploitation.)

Ty urged victims and witnesses of any form of online child sexual exploitation to come forward.

Meanwhile, Globe Telecommunications, Inc. senior director Carlo Bernardo Santos said they blocked almost 4,000 child pornography domains and URLs last year.

"We are now seeing the influx of images generated by AI, which is quite alarming from our perspective,” Santos said.

The SID is the brainchild of the European Union (EU) SafeBorders project that started in 2004 and is currently globally celebrated in about 180 countries every second Tuesday of February.

In the Philippines, SID was started by virtue of Proclamation No. 417 on February 5, 2018. — Jamil Santos/BM, GMA Integrated News