Press Release
June 10, 2008

LOREN URGES PASSAGE OF BILL PROHIBITING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

To protect the rights of children, Sen. Loren Legarda has urged passage of a bill monitoring and regulating internet service providers to block the showing of child pornography on the web or internet.

Loren made the appeal in a Senate speech co-sponsoring Senate Committee Report No. 55, recommending approval of Senate Bill No. 2317, entitled, An Act Prohibiting Child Pornography, Imposing Penalties for the Commission Thereof and for other purposes.

"Enshrined in our constitution and in the treatises we signed is the duty of the State to protect and promote holistically the rights of a child. We had sworn to do everything in our capabilities to uphold at all times our commitment to the development and protection of the Filipino children. Sadly, they fall prey to abuses specifically, child pornography," Loren observed.

"Child pornography proves to be one of the most pressing issues in our country. In fact, according to the National Bureau of Investigation, the Philippines is one of the leading producers of pornographic materials. It constitutes a billion-dollar industry operated both by local and foreign entities; an industry where people take advantage of impoverish Filipinos for big profits," Loren declared.

The bill proposes to prohibit child pornography through the imposition of penalties and imprisonment. It aims to punish those who recruited children for, produced, published and possessed child pornographic materials.

Loren said that a problem pointed out by the United Nations is the lack of understanding of the Filipino people, civilian and law enforcers alike, fn the nature of child pornography. People caught engaged in child pornography were often released as law enforcers have no clear basis as to what should be done. More commonly, child pornography is perceived only as an element of graver offenses like sexual exploitation and prostitution. Hence, we barely recognize the true nature of child pornography.

"Through this proposed measure, a concrete set of guidelines will be set. And through these guidelines, we will have better chances of preventing child pornography," Loren told the Senate.

Furthermore, the bill recognizes the large contribution of the World Wide Web in the promotion of pornography. According to statistics, 12 percent of the total number of websites showcases pornographic materials covering 420 million web pages. It accounts for 25 percent of search requests while downloading of these pornographic materials from the internet tallies to 35 percent of the total downloads per month. Also, 90 percent of children ages 8 -16 access these sites mostly during homework.

According to a UN commissioned study, cited by Loren, a major factor contributing to the difficulty of curtailing child pornography is the uncontrolled information transfer through the internet. "The easy access to technology allows the access of almost anyone on these materials. Likewise, we do not have a filter system regulating the flow of information," the senator bewailed.

The bill highlights the need to regulate and monitor information flows by mandating Internet Service Providers to install the latest technology that will block access to pornographic materials.

"It is in this light that I join the distinguished sponsor in requesting for the Chamber's positive action on this proposed measure. May we remember our commitment to our children and protect them from abuse and exploitation," Loren stressed.

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