For three years, the children did as they were told.
In the privacy of their home in Cordova town, Mactan island, Cebu, they stripped and posed naked in front of a web camera. They also performed lewd acts, as directed by their parents.
The cybersex operation was busted yesterday when agents of the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) raided the house and rescued all six children, including a 4-year-old girl.
The parents, who were arrested, hung their heads in shame.
“Mangayo ko og pasaylo sa akong mga anak. Nagmahay mi. Nahimo ni namo tungod sa among kawad-on (I apologize to my children. My husband and I regret doing this to them. We did this because we’re poor),” said the 33-year-old mother in an interview at the NBI office.
The woman is six months pregnant.
“Dili ta ka-deny kay caught in the act man. Angkonon namo (We can’t deny the accusations because we were caught in the act. We’ll admit that). ”
The woman said she and her husband turned to online pornography for money, transacting with foreigners online and receiving dollar payments, after they stopped working in a factory in Mandaue City.
“This is our only source of income,” said the father, who said they took up the same enterprise many of their neighbors were also doing.
Except for the eldest child, a 15-year-old boy, the other children were all naked when agents found them in the ground floor of their two-story house yesterday morning.
The youngest, a 4-year-old girl, was getting ready with her siblings to “perform” live in front of an Internet camera. Her mother was supervising them.
The three boys and three girls were aged 15, 13, 11, 9, 7, and 4.
Their parents will be charged with violation of Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-trafficking in Persons Act of 2003 and will likely spend the course of the trial in jail.
No bail is granted for this offense.
If convicted, a person found guilty of qualified trafficking faces life imprisonment and a fine of P2 million to P5 million.
Under the special law’s confidentiality provisions, both the victims and the accused cannot be identified in the media.
The NBI-7 team led by Special Investigator Jedidah Hife vowed to conduct more operations against persons who exploit children and women.
“We will go after them. Expect more operations,” Hife said.
A representative from the Unites States Department of Homeland Security also came to Cebu to monitor the raid. Hife said the agency is trying to identify the U.S. clients of the pornography ring.
An offense is considered “qualified trafficking” if the victim is a child and “when the offender is an ascendant, parent, sibling, guardian or a person who exercises authority over the trafficked person or when the offense is committed by a public officer or employee.”
The NBI raided the house after securing a search warrant from Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Meinrado Paredes.
When NBI agents entered the house, they found the children inside a room. The father was transacting online with a client. The mother was supervising her naked children.
Agents recovered from the house a computer monitor, central processing unit (CPU), keyboard, mouse, web camera, sex toys, and receipts of transactions between the couple and foreign clients.
The kids’ 57-year-old grandmother was present but she was not arrested, as she was not the subject of the warrant.
“I want my children back,” cried the pregnant mother.
“We’ll never do this again even if we just sell dried fish for a living,” she said.
However, with the arrest of the parents, custody of the children will be the lookout of the State unless other arrangements are made.