Capitol dangles cash for information on cyber sex trade

THE Provincial Women’s Commission (PWC) is encouraging more “tipsters” to report any cyber pornography businesses in Cordova town.

Cebu Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale said last Tuesday that the Capitol would give “cash rewards” for such information.

“If this is still going on, we encourage tipsters. We have a tipster’s reward,” she said.

A reward system for informers and livelihood opportunities will be used by Cordova officials to reduce the spread of cybersex dens in their town.

Both proposals were discussed last June 8 in a closed-door meeting of Capitol and Cordova officials with national government agencies at the office of Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.

The meeting was called in the wake of last month’s raid of a private residence in Cordova town where the parents allegedly used a web camera to feature nude videos of their young children performing sexual acts.

Magpale also said the the Provincial Commission for the Welfare of Children would finish making a training module for values formation and education campaign against cyber pornography.

Magpale said Cordova would be the pilot town but the project would be implemented in the whole province.

The module was made after last month’s arrest of a couple for exploiting their five children and a niece for a cybersex operation at home. The Capitol also took custody of the six children.

The couple is facing charges of qualified trafficking, violation of the Anti-Child Abuse Act, and Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009.

Meanwhile, Regional State Prosecutor Fernando Gubalane welcomed the decision of the United States to remove the Philippines from its human trafficking watch list.

Gubalane, head of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Region 7 Task Force for Anti-Human Trafficking, said the new development was a fruit of the concerted effort with the task force and the different nongovernment organizations, including the Visayan Forum and International Justice Mission. /Correspondent CArmel Loise Matus with a report from Correspondent Jhunnex Napallacan