Cebu mom gets 20 years for home-based cyberporn

CEBU CITY — A court here sentenced a 38-year-old mother to 20 years in prison for pushing her four children and four other minors into online pornography in Cordova town, Cebu province, in 2016.

The woman was convicted of simple trafficking in persons after she pleaded guilty before Judge Mory Nueva of the Cebu City Regional Trial Court Branch 13 on Wednesday. The court ordered her to pay a P1-million fine, P100,000 in moral damages and P100,000 in exemplary damages.

Precious

She is the 14th person to be convicted for online sexual exploitation of children in the Philippines since January 2018, according to records of the International Justice Mission (IJM), a nongovernment organization fighting all forms of human trafficking and child exploitation. IJM’s lawyers provided legal assistance to the victims.

“The lives of Filipino children are too precious. A long prison sentence awaits people caught engaging in online sexual exploitation of children,” lawyer John Tanagho, field office director of IJM-Cebu, said in a press statement.

In a sworn affidavit, one of the victims described how the woman forced her and the other children to perform sexual acts, in front of a web camera providing live stream feed, in an abandoned store owned by woman’s partner at Barangay Ibabao, Cordova, two years ago.

Australian police tip

Court and police records showed that the woman’s clients were based in Australia, the United States and Germany. The children she exposed to cyber pornography were three boys aged between 6 and 15, and five girls aged between 4 and 11.

The local police set up an operation to arrest the woman on Sept. 8, 2016 after receiving a tip from the Australian Federal Police about her activities.

Senior Supt. Romeo Perigo, chief of the Women and Children’s Protection Center-Visayas Field Unit, said his team was “elated” that justice was served to the children abused by the woman.

Lesson

The children remain in the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, where they are receiving psychosocial and rehabilitation services to overcome the years of abuse and trauma.

Cordova Mayor Mary Therese Sitoy-Cho said the ruling would serve a lesson to people still engaged in cyber pornography business.

“It is frustrating to know that online sexual exploitation of children happens in our town, despite our vigilance,” Cho said.