‘Cybersex den’ owner nabbed, 7 kids rescued

IN GOOD HANDS Personnel from the Women and Children’s Protection Center-Visayas Field Unit and other government agencies assist a group of minors rescued on Wednesday from a relative running a cybersex den in Cebu City. —NESTLE SEMILLA

CEBU CITY—Seven children, including a 4-month-old baby, were rescued on Wednesday from a relative suspected of running a cybersex den in Barangay Luz here.

The suspect, a woman whose name was withheld by authorities to protect the identities of the children, is facing charges over violations of the provisions of Republic Act No. 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act. The complaint was filed in the Cebu City prosecutor’s office on Thursday.

The charges stemmed from a raid conducted by the Women and Children’s Protection Center (WCPC) Visayas Field Unit on Wednesday on the strength of the search warrant issued by Judge Ramon Daomilas Jr. of the Regional Trial Court Branch 11 against the suspect. She had been placed under surveillance in 2020 for engaging in cyberpornography, a billion-dollar global industry that proliferates with easy access to the internet.

Seven minors were rescued in the raid, including the infant. They were the suspect’s son, nephew and nieces, age 17 years old and below. They were all entrusted to the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Central Visayas for psychosocial intervention, therapy and rehabilitation.

Surveillance

Police Maj. Niño Lawrence Ibo, chief of the WCPC-Visayas Field Unit, declined to give other details about the victims, citing the need to protect their identities.

Ibo said their unit almost arrested the suspect in 2020 while she was under police surveillance. The lockdowns and other restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, had forced the woman to stop her online operations, aborting the arrest.

But on June 22, the WCPC received reports that the suspect was back to her cyberpornography business, prompting authorities to launch an operation to arrest her.

Investigation showed that the woman would offer to send her clients, mostly foreigners, nude photos and videos of herself as well as of the minors.

“We’re still verifying if all the victims, including the infant, were used in her cyberporn operations,” Ibo said.

He said there won’t be any letup in their campaign to end the sexual exploitation of children.

“The current scenario is really alarming because most of the victims are minors,” Ibo said.

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