THE PHILIPPINES’ recent “cyber-fame” has proven that not all publicity is good publicity after all. The country has been declared one of the top 10 countries where cyberpornography is prevalent. The cybersex “trade,” already a thriving industry in the country, also holds the number one spot in the list of the Philippines’ most prevalent crimes.
This news came after a string of raids and crackdowns were conducted, including one by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) on pedophile rings and cyberporn dens in different parts of the country.
These operations made headlines both in the Philippines and abroad, shedding light on the country’s growing frequency of sex-related crimes.
Top of the list
In January, the NCA, together with the Australian Federal Police and United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, discovered and halted the operations of an international ring that exploited Filipino children between six and 15 years of age in the remote village of Ibabao, Cebu.
On February 1, The Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group 7 raided yet another cyberpornography den that was fronting as a call center in Barangay Guadalupe, Cebu City last. It was reported that 13 individuals, seven of whom were women, were rescued.
A police investigation revealed that Cebu is among the top four sites for online pornography, along with Angeles City, Cagayan de Oro and Metro Manila.
However, almost every part of the country has at one point been a transmittal site of pornographic material involving children.
Behind the numbers
While the rise in cyberpornography-related crimes can clearly be seen in the numbers, cases are treated with high sensitivity due to the nature of what goes on behind closed doors and the effects on those involved.
The personal damage sexual abuse can cause is one of the greatest realizations of management engineering senior and Tugon member Alyssa Saavedra has made while working in the organization. Tugon is an organization in Ateneo that helps tend to children who are survivors of abandonment or sexual abuse.
“Interacting closely with [sex crime victims] made me realize… an act done for just a few minutes will take years, if not a lifetime, to recover from,” she says.
Saavedra points out two of the major effects she has seen as a result of sexual abuse in young girls: Loss of self-esteem and the acquisition of a distrusting nature. “They lose confidence in themselves, they do not trust other people and they view the world as a dark place,” she explains. “In order to recover, they have to accept what happened to them and eventually move beyond the pain.”
Department of Sociology and Anthropology assistant professor Enrique Leviste also points out how people should give more regard to examining how women engaging in cyberporn “view their own predicament.” He highlights several questions that need to be considered whenever sex workers are seen as “victims” or “criminals.”
“Do they really feel exploited or violated, or do they take pride in what they do as if to suggest that they claim ownership of their ‘craft?’ Are online activities that are sexual in nature purely motivated by economic needs?” he asks rhetorically.
He also discusses how the “sex industry” is actually a reflection of the presence of capitalist structures in society that hinder laborers from “the economic benefits they rightly deserve.” Due to social inequity and the lack of better opportunities to earn a decent living, these people resort to illegal means, such as operating as sex workers.
Correction vs. solution
Despite efforts of foreign and local agencies to reveal and dismantle sex crimes in the country, Leviste describes such efforts as only “short-term, cursory and leave a lot to be desired.” According to him, “They don’t address issues that primarily motivated the proliferation of cyberporn to begin with.”
Though there exists the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, which is dedicated to stopping human trafficking, it is slowed by a lack of resources. This is in spite of receiving organizational and financial support from the government.
According to Rappler.com, Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda asserted in an interview with dzRB that a possible solution may be the Anti-Cybercrime law, especially as it “could have helped the country in its efforts to curb online prostitution.”
Leviste, however, does not share the same sentiment. “I think criminalizing ‘illicit’ online activities via legislation does not decisively address this issue. It is palliative at best,” he says.
He also states that “underlying factors providing impetus for such an industry or ‘business venture’ to thrive” must also be taken into consideration. He cites poverty, gender discrimination and commodification of women, to name a few.
He says, “These are deeply entrenched structural problems that require more than just ‘band-aid’ solutions.”
