The judicial power to end online child abuse and trafficking

The judicial power to end online child abuse and trafficking
Fr. Shay Cullen
8 September 2023

The well-being of a nation that lives under the rule of law is determined in part by how well the law is respected, accepted, obeyed, implemented and enforced without fear or favor. Justice must be done by judges of integrity and a deep commitment to morality. They are bound to implement the rule of law by fair decisions based on what the law clearly says and there is true evidence that leaves no doubt about the innocence or the guilt of a person or corporation accused of wrongdoing.

Justice is at the very heart of morality. Laws are the written rules of what is right and wrong, true and false, and good and bad of human behavior. The implementation of the law is to correct an imbalance and inequality so that the good and the true will overcome evil and injustice. The most vulnerable of all are the child victims of abuse and exploitation, dominated and abused by adults for their selfish gratification and profit. Individuals with ascendancy who abuse children must be held to account. Diosdada, the mother of a teenage child whom she sold to men for sexual abuse, was convicted of qualified trafficking in persons under RA 9208 as amended by RA 10304 by Judge Gemma Theresa B. Hilario-Logronio, a strict and just judge where by anyone especially those in ascendancy who enables or makes it possible for a child to be abused is held liable for violation of the law.

The judge believed the testimony of the child given in a “clear and convincing manner.” The mother ‘s defense was mere “denial which she was unable to present strong evidence that she was not capable of committing the crime.” The mother was convicted because she enabled and allowed the child to be abused by others.

Not only can individuals harm and hurt each other and children, institutions and corporations can also abuse children and they do all the time. For example, a business entity that allows poison sewerage to flow freely into a community’s water source or the commander that fires a missile at a school, hospital or community center or market, must held responsible and brought to justice. The telecommunications corporations that allow child abuse material or live-streaming of child abuse to pass unrestricted through their servers are morally corrupt and must be held accountable for violation of RA 9775. Their defense is denial and say they don’t allow it intentionally.

Prevention of abuse and intimidation of children seeking justice is vitally important. Recently the child-friendly court of Judge Jaime D. Bugain of the Regional Trial Court Branch 18 in Malolos, Bulacan arranged to hold a hearing in his chamber to prevent intimidation by the accused while the child’s testimony was taken. The child was allowed to sit with her back to the suspect to avoid intimidation. The child’s father, who is backing his brother the accused, was not allowed by Judge Bugain to sit before his daughter and intimidate her as she gave testimony against her father’s brother who allegedly sexually abused her.

The same strict penalties imposed upon the child abuser must also apply to the enabler, especially a corporation, without whom the abuse and harm could not be done. The illegal and horrific images of little children, some as young as three years old, among the many thousands being sexually abused live on the internet, are capable of reaching the computers, tablets, and smart phones of Filipinos and pedophiles here and abroad as detected by international law enforcement. Local law enforcement agencies are apparently incapable of this cyber-detection and intervention.

It is the telecommunications corporations, with billions of reserve funds at their disposal, that fail to install AI-powered detection and available blocking software to make the internet safe. Hundreds of thousands of children are abused over the Internet which they provide access to without safeguards.

They must strictly implement and obey Philippine laws specifically RA 9775 and RA 11930 that demand they install the latest blocking software to stop the repeated transmission of child pornography images and video. The Philippines has been named as the world’s “hot spot” for child pornography and on-line sexual exploitation of children.

Upcoming seminars in Metro Manila on making the internet safe for all users from the abuse of artificial intelligence software (AI) must be relevant and meaningful and address and challenge the telecoms about child sexual abuse streaming and child abuse images passing through their servers.

In the Philippines, cases of 10 and 11-year old boys with child sexual abuse images on cell phones have sexually abused five- and six-year old girls. No one knows how widespread this is yet they can download the images with ease. This is perhaps the most dangerous and destructive technology damaging children and youth.

Philippine telecommunication corporations are reportedly resisting and opposing the implementation of Section 9 of RA 9775 which demands they install blocking software be used to protect Filipino children from on-line abuse. One important development is the possibility of a legal challenge by US evangelical groups to the US law behind which telecoms hide. This is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of the USA that allows the ISPs NOT to be held responsible for what is posted or traverses their servers and networks. This must be reformed in the USA as the EU is doing. As said, the telecoms ought to be morally and legally liable for the material posted on their platforms. They are crimes committed and enabled through their computers and servers.

It seems that they are blind to the situation and are incompetent to block anything evil. They cannot even provide a secure ID for sim card ownership? The ever vigilant National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has discovered that even a monkey can have a certified sim card issued by the telecoms. The serious on-line child abuse has to be stopped and full implementation of Section 9 of RA 9775 is what must be done and the justice system must enforce that law.

May justice be done and seen to be done every day.

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