TRO on Cybercrime Law no excuse for ‘inaction’ on child porn – IBP official

The temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Supreme Court on the controversial Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 is no excuse to not go after groups and individuals involved in child pornography, an Integrated Bar of the Philippines official said Saturday.

 

In a phone interview with GMA News Online, IBP spokesperson Trixie Angeles said investigators can cite Republic Act 7610 or the Act for the Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation or Discrimination as the basis for police operations against distributors and transmitters of child pornography.

 

Under RA 7610, “any person who shall hire, employ, use, persuade, induce or coerce a child to perform in obscene exhibitions and indecent shows, whether live or in video, or model in obscene publications or pornographic materials or to sell or distribute the said materials” may be imprisoned for eight to 10 years.

 

A prison sentence of 10 to 12 years will be imposed if the victim is below 12 years old.

 

“Puwede naman nilang gamitin ‘yon (RA 7610) as basis kasi the offenders can still be liable for child pornography. Just because the crime is committed online does not mean hindi na ‘yon sakop ng batas,” she said.

 

Britain's National Crime Agency announced Thursday that British police are working with Australian and American authorities to crack a pedophile ring based in the Philippines that streams live sexual abuse of Filipino children over the Internet.

 

Meanwhile, Malacañang assured the public Saturday that the pedophile ring is being probed by several government agencies under the Inter-Agency Commission Against Trafficking.

 

The Philippine National Police's Anti Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) earlier said police operations against pornographers are being hampered by the Supreme Court’s TRO on the Cybercrime Law.

 

PNP-ACG Director Police Senior Superintendent Gilbert Caasi Sosa said in a press conference Friday that telecommunications companies have denied police requests for the subscriber information and cellular data of suspected pedophile operators.

 

“Since naka-TRO, walang legal basis para mag-comply sila to maintain their log files within a specified (amount of time). Kaya pag kailangan namin ng log files, wala na kaming makukuha ngayon. So we face a blank wall,” Sosa said.

 

President Benigno Aquino signed law in September 2012, but the high court issued a TRO against its implementation in October following a wave of protests and petitions that assailed the law's constitutionality.

 

The original TRO was supposed to lapse in February in 2013. However, the Supreme Court decided to have it extended in an en banc session presided over by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

 

PNP can resort to other methods

 

Angeles, however, said the PNP’s investigation into the pedophile ring does should not be limited by mobile service providers’ refusal to turn over subscriber information.

 

She said the police can resort to other methods such as surveillance and sting operations to nab sex offenders.

 

“Going to the telcos for information is just one way to obtain what they need. But it’s not the only way. May mga na-raid na ang NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) and PNP na mga rings involved in sex chats in the past using different surveillance methods. They can resort to that again to solve this case,” Angeles said.

 

The IBP spokesperson added the PNP might just be citing the TRO on the cybercrime law as an excuse for their difficulty in tracking down leads in the cyber sex probe.

 

“My personal opinion on this is baka tinamad sila (PNP) na mag-resort to other investigation methods since kapag nasa kanila na yung info from the telco, all they had to do is read what’s on the paper, then act on it. They’re limiting the investigation to having the telcos hand over the data to them. They haven’t explored the alternatives to that yet,” Angeles said.

 

University of the Philippines law professor Harry Roque, who is one of the petitioners against the controversial Cybercrime Law, also echoed Angeles’ observation. 

 

“They (PNP) are just appealing to the SC to sustain the law when the problem is [the] police just don’t know how to investigate,” Roque said in a text message to GMA News Online. — JDS, GMA News