MANILA, Philippines — A man from Cebu was arrested for allegedly soliciting sex with male minors while selling self-produced videos of him performing sexual acts to minors on social media sites like Twitter, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said on Friday.
The NBI identified the suspect as Romilo Romero, of legal age and a resident of Bulacao, Cebu.
Armed with a warrant to search, seize, and examine computer data, NBI operatives arrested Romero in an entrapment operation conducted at Sitio Cabancalan II, Bulacao, Cebu City on July 29.
“Subject was arrested in flagrante delicto [caught in the act of] offering an individual for sexual intercourse in exchange for a sum of money, and selling child pornographic materials,” the NBI said in a statement.
During the operation, one male victim was rescued and returned to the Department of Social Welfare and Development custody.
Authorities also seized the digital devices Romero owned.
The suspect’s arrest stemmed from the report received by NBI’s Anti-Human Trafficking Division regarding a particular individual behind a Twitter account @MarkjasonCj for allegedly promoting and selling self-produced illegal pornographic content.
Authorities said he is also promoting his content on social media sites Facebook and Telegram.
To verify the alleged illegal activities, the Department of Justice’s human trafficking division launched cyber surveillance to determine the identity of the Twitter user.
The bureau said their operatives have confirmed that Romero “is the user of the Twitter account @MarkjasonCj who sells child pornographic materials through allowing access to channels containing said materials to paying clients.”
Authorities also found that Romero allegedly offered young males to paying customers for meetups in Cebu and online cybersex.
Romero is facing charges in violation of Republic Act (RA) 9208, better known as the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, and RA 11862 and RA 9775, otherwise known as “Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009, in relation to RA 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
The incident came a few days after the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (Anti-OSAEC) bill lapsed into law.
Senator Risa Hontiveros, the sponsor of the now-anti-OSAEC law, said the government would meet with Telegram, YouTube, and other data storage platforms or devices to curb online sexual exploitation.
The Anti-OSAEC law gives these platforms the responsibility of taking down materials violating minors’ rights, preserving evidence related to the incident, and immediately relaying the proof to law enforcement agencies.
Their failure to do so will result in a penalty.
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