Senator Ma. Imelda Josefa “Imee” R. Marcos expressed alarm at the spike in cases of child sexual abuse online since lockdowns were imposed to stop the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Ms. Marcos filed Senate Resolution 487 to investigate how such cases in March to May alone more than tripled to about 260,000 from a year earlier, based on reports from the Department of Justice and the Department of Social Welfare and Development. The Philippines has gained a reputation as the “global epicenter of the live-stream sex abuse trade” and the top global source of child pornography, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The recent arrest in Pampanga of American pedophile Michael Kent Clapper, on a tip from the US embassy in Manila, is just one of many police operations conducted since the mid-March lockdown, with the Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Center rescuing 34 minors from Luzon to Mindanao who were involved in online pornograp
Online edition of The Ilocos Times, a community newspaper based in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte.