‘Husbands push wives, children to cyberporn’

Some husbands instigated their wives and children to go into the cybersex business, a police official said.

Police said they discovered this during information campaigns on cyberpornography in barangays Buaya, Basak and Marigondon in Lapu-Lapu City.

“The husband pushes his wife to engage in cybersex,” Senior Supt. Anthony Obenza, city police chief, said in yesterday’s Talakayan forum.

Police have a hard time fighting home-based cybersex operations, said Chief Supt. Ager Ontog of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas.

The location of foreigners who own the Internet servers used in cybersex compounds is the problem, he said.

It would be easy to prosecute people abroad only if the Philippines has an extradition treaty with the state where they live, Ontog added.

Meanwhile, authorities need help to trace computers units used in cyberpornography, said Senior Insp. Ma. Theresa Macatangay in yesterday’s Kapihan forum organized by the Philippine Information Agency (PIA).

They turned over equipment like computers, hard drives and servers to their central office in Camp Crame so the evidence would be studied and preserved, Macatangay said.

Authorities are monitoring several places in Cebu province and Central Visayas where cyberpornography is rampant, said Macatangay, who heads the Regional Anti-Trafficking Task Force.

They are augmenting their technical capability through monthly seminars that include refresher courses on investigation techniques, the law against pornography and affidavit writing.

Macatangay reminded the community to reporting to the police suspected cyberporn cases.

“Don’t expect the police to be omnipotent,” she said.

Police are working with “counterparts like the Australian Federal Police and the (United States) Federal Bureau of Investigation for training on investigating these crimes,” Ontog said.

They will deploy in Cebu province 30 policemen with special training on cybercrime.

A unit has been created under the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group to investigate cyberpornorgraphy as well as collect and transmit evidence to Camp Crame, he said.