DAVAO CITY — Progressive group, Gabriela claimed the continuing operation of child pornography syndicates is proof that the government’s anti-poverty programs are inefficient.
Bai Ali Indayla, spokesperson for Mindanao of Gabriela Women’s Party said most of the children who fell victims to child porn syndicates are from the poorest provinces in Mindanao.
Indayla cited an undercover child protection worker who recently took part in a crackdown against a syndicate in Iligan City in Lanao del Norte.
The undercover worker told reporters that poverty in the Philippines force many locals to pimp their children to mostly European pedophiles, Indayla said.
“The undercover said that global networks of pedophiles contact the adult handlers and travel to the Philippines to get direct access to children as young as one year of age for both sexual abuse. The abusers also record the acts on webcams and transmit images online to other pedophiles accessing the videos in their home countries for pay,” she said.
Indayla said Iligan City remains one of the poorest cities in the country.
“Lanao del Norte has a poverty incidence of 42.5 percent. Neighboring provinces Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao and Zamboanga del Norte have poverty incidences of 68.9 percent, 57.8 percent, and 50.3 percent respectively,” she said, citing government data.
“Ten of the 16 poorest provinces in the Philippines are found in Mindanao. Clearly, six years of Aquino’s conditional cash transfer program failed to improve the lives of Mindanaoans,” said Indayla.
Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan of Gabriela said they will file a resolution in Congress next week to direct the House Committee on Women and Gender Equality to summon agencies dealing with the child porn and child prostitution problems to craft policies against child pornography. (davaotoday.com)
