San Fernando, Pampanga—Even if children have not been physically or sexually abused in a potential crime”• by suspects that may include their parents”•there still is a crime committed against the kids as provided by the law that protects them against pornography and other abuses.
This was stressed by Atty. Eunice Mina, chief of the Legal Services Bureau of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, as the keynote speaker in a forum on child pornography here Thursday.
“Criminal and sexual acts alone have huge emotional impacts to the child,” said Mina, adding that although there is no physical and sexual contact and no harm done to the victims, the perpetrators are still liable under law.
These abuses must be avoided and stopped as children “are not to be used for commercial purposes specially in child pornography,” she said.
The forum aimed to educate parents and children on the provisions of Republic Act 9775, the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009, and to teach them on the dynamic of victims-survivors mechanisms in the child pornography in the region.
RA 9775 and other related laws are aimed to protect children against the crime of child pornography and prescribes penalties for such, the DSWD officer said.
Mina warned that perpetrators are liable not just under RA 9775, but also Presidential Decree No. 607, RA 9344 (Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006), and RA 7610 (Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act) if they engage in child pornography.
“All the laws are aimed to protect the children from any abuses in the community,” she said.
Punishable under the laws are criminal acts like child performing in pornography, making, selling, publishing, possessing, distributing, permitting, luring, grooming, pandering, and accessing child porn, she said.
When an internet service provider fails to report, preserve the evidence, refusal to grant authorities access to software file, or when business establishment failed to report to the authorities in the commission of the crime is also considered a criminal act, Mina added.
During the forum, Mina cited the Cordova case of Cebu where the parents let their child pose on the internet, claiming that there was no physical contact or no harm done to the child.
Photos on the Internet “are stored in perpetuity that can bring moral degradations and could ruin the child’s future when they grow up,” she said.
This where the laws and the different government agencies and non-government organizations working under the Inter-Agency Council Against Child Pornography can protect the children from any abuses, Mina added.
The NGO partners that help rescue and provide reintegration program for the survivors and victims include the International Justice Movement and the Stairway Foundation.
During the open forum, Director Gemma Gabuya of DSWD in Central Luzon said that there is only one recorded case of child pornography in the region, but urged local government units and barangay captains give them data on the less fortunate children in their areas to prevent such practice in the future.
The other speaker was Alfie Aranas of the Department of Interior and Local Government, while Gabuya welcomed the participants.