Duterte, Cabinet order NTC to slap sanctions on internet providers over child porn

President Rodrigo Duterte and his Cabinet have ordered the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to slap sanctions on internet service providers (ISPs) for their alleged failure to stop the proliferation of child pornography, a Malacañang official said Tuesday.

Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the national government came up with the directive after data showed that suspicious transaction reports related to online sexual exploitation amid the COVID-19 pandemic more than doubled in 2020, or from 19,000 in 2019 to 47,937 in 2020.

Under Republic Act 9775, ISPs should notify the Philippine National Police (PNP) or the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) within seven days from obtaining facts and circumstances that any form of child pornography is being committed using its server or facility.

All ISPs should also install available technology, program or software to ensure that access to or transmittal of any form of child pornography will be blocked or filtered, according to the law.

Both the PNP and NBI are looking into the reported sale of sensual photos and videos by students struggling to cope with distance learning requirements amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra also ordered the NBI last week to file charges against persons involved in any unlawful acts connected with the sale of lewd photos and videos.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture, earlier revealed that a “Christmas bundle” of sensual images and videos was even offered at a low price of P150.

Nograles, meanwhile, said the national government urged Congress to pass measures that would exempt trafficking in persons from the Anti-Wiretapping Law, broaden the membership of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), and strengthen the body through additional manpower and funding.

Duterte and his Cabinet also asked lawmakers to impose obligations on ISPs and tourism establishments aimed at dismantling child pornography in the Philippines.

“Malinaw po na hindi hahayaan ng gobyerno na madagdagan pa ang biktima ng sexual exploitation sa gitna ng kinakaharap nating pandemya,” Nograles told a news conference. —KBK, GMA News