The lure of easy money from foreign customers and poverty keeps cyber-pornography dens alive in Cordova town and other areas in Cebu province.
This was the explanation of Cordova Mayor Adelino Sitoy as Acting Gov. Agnes Magpale said she was coordinating with the US Homeland Security on the latest raid in Cordova and the earlier 2011 arrest of parents of a household whose case is on trial in Lapu-Lapu city.
Sitoy said he wasn’t even aware of last Sunday’s raid of a household in Cordova but wasn’t surprised about it either.
“Mao man gyud na diha sa Ibabao. Dugay na namo nang gilihok pero wala gihapon (That’s really happening in barangay Ibabao. We’ve been taking action against it for a long time but there’s been no effect),” he said.
He said no law enforcement group told him about their raid there.
It wasn’t until Cebu Daily News sought his comment by phone Monday afternoon that he said he knew about it.
He said the choice of residents to go for “easy money” was the reason households in Cordova were engaging in cyber-porn enterprises.
Sitoy said town authorities waged a serious campaign against child exploitation specifically in barangay Ibabao, attending board meetings of Parents Teachers Associations (PTA) in elementary schools for counseling and an information drive.
He said many Ibabao residents receive financial aid from the national government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) as well since they are among the pooorest.
“Kini gud ang tawo usahay magpadala sa easy money. Kusog ang temptasyon sa kwarta (People sometimes are lured by easy money. Money is a big temptation),” Sitoy said.
When Cebu Daily News went to the sitio looking for the raided house yesterday nobody– at least the adults – were willing to say where it was. Several residents said “Ambot” (I don’t know).
Only two 10-year-old boys volunteered to give directions to the house.
A woman in her 30s living next door came out of the gate, but said she didn’t know anything because she was “new” there.
The small house with a mini-gate was quiet and not occupied.
“Mao ni ang balay katong naay raid pero na priso naman ang mga tawo diha (This is the house that was raided but the people there were put in prison),” the children said.
The house is about 50 meters away from the household that was raided in 2011.
The parents were also arrested for exploiting their five underage children and a niece by getting them to pose naked in front of a web camera for online viewers.
Acting Governor Agnes Magpale said she was previously informed by Cebu police that operators of cyber-sex dens in Cordova transferred their trade to other towns.
“But they already returned. These ( operators) just lie low a bit but (they come back) because of the money. To me that’s already rampant,” Magpale said.
She said the Provincial Women’s Commission in cooperation with the NBI and other non-government organizations (NGO) like the International Justice Mission (IJM) are monitoring cyber-porn activities in the province.
Magpale said she met with an agent of Homeland Security about Sunday’s raid.
She said the agents are in Cebu to trace cyber-sex clients from the US. Using “sophisticated gadgets” similar to what was used in the 2011 raid.
“Practically almost all countries have clients. This involves big money,” she said.
Magpale said the prices vary and are based on the “lewdness of the sexual acts.”
In the earlier 2011 case, Magpale said the cyber-porn operators still used personal computers with large central processing units (CPUs). “We even sent the CPU to Washington DC for analysis. Now, they (operators) use laptops,” she said.
The kids who were rescued in the 2011 raid are e doing “well” under the care of government social welfare authorites as they undergo rehabilitation. Magpale said a child psychologist still visits them regularly.
The acting governor said the youngest among the kids is very articulate and participates actively in school activities as program emcee.
“It’s tedious and it really requires patience on those who were rescued. We have the rescue, prosecution, aftercare of the child and legislation, what we learned from the whole process,” she said.