Perpetrators have raked in at least P1.5 billion from online child porn – AMLC

CDN file photo

MANILA, Philippines — Online child pornography has racked in at least P1.5 billion in profit from 2020 to 2023, according to findings from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).

Executive Director of the Justice Department’s (DOJ) Center for Anti-Online Child Sexual Abuse Atty. Margarita Magsaysay bared this number in a Palace briefing on Thursday.

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The figure is based from the AMLC’s Suspicious Transaction Report (STR), which flags anomalous transactions with signs of online sexual abuse or exploitation of children (OSAEC) and child sexual abuse or exploitation materials (CSAEM).

“For the year 2020, it is P83,348,106 in value,” said Magsaysay.

Meanwhile, child porn in the Philippines made more than P996,000,000 in 2021 and over P478,000,000 in 2022, said Magaysay.

She, however, said it was difficult to fully determine the scope of child porn due to underreporting.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered intensified government efforts against OSAEC and CSAEM, telling government agencies to crack down on perpetrators.

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On the DOJ’s end, there have been 523 convictions on child pornography since 2009.

Magsaysay said the primary reason cited by convicted perpetrators is poverty.

The DOJ has also determined hotspots where the production of OSAEC and CSAEM are rampant within the country.

“Ang nakikita po naming rampant areas of OSAEC and CSAEM ay Cagayan De Oro, Iligan and Taguig. So, iyon po iyong nakikita natin,” said Magsaysay.

(We see OSAEC and CSAEM rampant in Cagayan De Oro, Iligan and Taguig. So, that is what we see.)