Contents:
-Tarlac solon seeks Internet curbs on porn
-Printer accused of producing porn
-Abandoned kids find hope in foreign homes
-11-year-old admits killing 2-year-old in Palawan
Tarlac solon seeks Internet curbs on pornInquirer
Last updated 09:08pm (Mla time) 09/20/2007
IN AN effort to curb the rising cases of sexual exploitation of minors in the country, Rep. Monica Prieto-Teodoro has filed House Bill No. 684 seeking the maximum penalty of life imprisonment for the production, distribution, export, transmission, sale, possession, and advertising of child pornographic materials.
In a statement, Teodoro said “there is a need for a legislative measure to address this disturbing social phenomena, which has been growing particularly due to access to and availability on the Internet.”
Teodoro said that aside from reinforcing Republic Act No. 7160–the Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act–the proposed measure also regulates Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and all other players in the telecommunications and information technology industry.
RA 7160 does not provide adequate protection to victims of other forms of sexual abuse such as child pornography.
“Unlike in other countries, Internet service in the Philippines is loosely, if at all, regulated, providing anyone with a computer or mobile phone access to illicit material,” Teodoro said.
The proposed measure conforms with Article 34 of the Convention of the Rights of the Child to which the Philippines is a signatory.
The provision says that state parties should undertake measures to protect children from all forms of sexual exploitation and abuse, such as inducement or coercion to engage in any unlawful sexual activity, exploitative use in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices, and exploitative use in pornographic performances and materials.
Complementary to the Convention, the Philippines is also a signatory to the Optional Protocol which prohibits the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
Printer accused of producing porn
By Tina Santos
Inquirer
Last updated 07:36pm (Mla time) 09/20/2007
MANILA, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has filed charges against a Chinese-Filipino printing press owner who allegedly engaged in the manufacture of pornographic DVD and VCD labels.
Charged with violation of Article 201 of the Revised Penal Code (Immoral Doctrines, Obscene Publication and Exhibition) before the Office of the Manila Prosecutor was Joseph Chua, of Clemente Street, Gagalangin, Tondo.
Investigation showed the raid was conducted following information that Chua was engaged in the manufacture, printing and distribution of obscene materials, the NBI said.
The suspect was allegedly the supplier of DVD and VCD pornographic labels to traders and copiers of DVD and VCD pornographic movies.
Armed with a search warrant issued by a Manila court, agents of the NBI National Capital Region conducted the raid following surveillance and test-buys.
They seized at least three computer sets and several pieces of DVD microfilm, plates and labels, all containing pornographic pictures and images.
Abandoned kids find hope in foreign homes
By Jocelyn Uy
Inquirer
Last updated 07:08am (Mla time) 09/18/2007
MANILA, Philippines — Noah was a sickly year-old baby whose movements were limited to rolling his eyes.
He might have died under the care of a fund-strapped orphanage in the Philippines had not an American couple succeeded in adopting him two weeks before his condition worsened.
Noah was afflicted with a heart ailment: He had two large holes in his heart.
Upon arriving at his new home in Indiana in the United States, he had to be taken to a hospital that boasted one of the world’s best pediatric heart surgeons.
He was in intensive care for six days, and spent 30 more days in the hospital to fully recuperate. His new parents, Robert and Cindy Palmer, kept a bedside watch.
Now 4 years old, Noah is a healthy child who attends preschool and loves to play with his friends.
His story, as recounted by his adoptive father, is among the true-to-life accounts published in a primer distributed during Monday’s launch of the 9th Global Consultation on Child Welfare Services in Tagaytay City.
The four-day conference — attended by some 200 foreign and local delegates involved in child welfare and placement — is hosted by the Inter-Country Adoption Board (ICAB), an agency attached to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
The conference was organized to discuss and address the issues affecting abandoned Filipino children — how adoption can be a means of parental development and change, and possible areas of collaboration between partner-agencies to uplift the lot of disadvantaged children through foreign adoption.
11-year-old admits killing 2-year-old in Palawan
By Redempto Anda
Southern Luzon Bureau
Last updated 02:07pm (Mla time) 09/17/2007
PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Philippines — An 11-year-old boy is in the custody of social welfare officials here after he admitted strangling to death a two-year-old boy, police said Monday.
Puerto Princesa police Chief David Martinez said the child offender gave himself up to officials in Barangay (village) Buenavista after the victim’s body was found floating in a river on Friday, three days after the boy claimed that he strangled the victim.
Buenavista is approximately 70 kilometers north of the Puerto Princesa town center.
The authorities withheld the identities of both the confessed killer and the victim.
No criminal charges will be filed against the child offender, according to officials of the city’s social welfare department, in view of Republic Act 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 that prohibits criminal prosecution of children below 18 years.
Martinez said they have asked village officials to help pacify the family of the victim for fear of retribution.
“We are monitoring this case closely because the relatives of the victim are angry and the villagers are angry as well because under the law, the boy has no criminal liability; nobody is protecting the victim,” Martinez told the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.
Social Welfare Department chief Lolita Yulo said on radio that the child offender did not express remorse for the killing.
“You could not detect anything in his expression or his words that he did anything wrong. He really wanted to do it [strangling] because he believed the victim’s family was stealing from them. He was apparently really angry with the parents of the child,” Yulo said.
updated September 21, 2007