Senate bodies OK new anti-child porn law

THREE Senate committees on Tuesday approved a measure seeking to strengthen protection against the sexual abuse of children online.

Senator Risa N. Hontiveros-Baraquel, who heads the committee on women, endorsed to the plenary Senate Bill 2209, which will repeal the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009 and amend the Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act of 2009.

The committees on science and technology and finance also approved the bill.

Ms. Baraquel said the bill penalizes the use of digital or analog communications to abuse and exploit children sexually.

Cases of online child sexual abuse almost quadrupled in the Philippines at the height of a coronavirus pandemic from March to May 2020, according to data from the Department of Justice.

The Philippines was also among the top 10 countries that produced child porn in 2016, Ms. Baraquel said in her sponsorship speech, citing a report by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF). — Vann Marlo M. Villegass