Unicef calls the Philippines the “global epicenter” of live-streamed child pornography

One in four young Filipinos have been sexually violated, according to a report released this week by the UN children’s agency Unicef and the Philippine government.
Based on a survey of 13- to 24-year-olds conducted last year, the report found (pdf) that most of the violations happen in the children’s homes, communities, or during dates; that boys are more at risk of experiencing sexual violence than girls; and that children aged 13 to 17 experience the most sexual violence, including forced sex.
As if this weren’t bad enough, the nation has also become “the global epicenter of the live-stream sexual abuse trade,” the agency reported earlier this year. Traffickers use chatrooms and social media to offer online child sex performances, an industry that tens and thousands of Filipino children fall prey to, it added.
Cybersex dens exploiting children are found in the country’s big cities, including Manila, Cebu, and Davao. Operators live-stream and record acts from small rooms equipped with laptops, webcams, and routers.
As with chronic malnutrition and child labor—two other deep-seated problems in the Philippines—poverty is a large factor behind the proliferation of the dens. An investigation into one in the Manila slums revealed it paid local children 150 pesos ($3) to participate, and that in some cases the children were brought by their own parents.
While former president Benigno Aquino III signed into law the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, which penalizes child pornography, the situation has not improved. Reported cases of live-streamed sex acts involving children increased in number from 57 in 2013 to 167 last year, according to Unicef, citing numbers from the Philippine National Police’s cyber crime unit. Most cases, of course, don’t get reported.
When current president Rodrigo Duterte was mayor of Davao City in 2014, he spearheaded investigations into online child pornography operations in the area. “I will see to it that they will suffer the consequences of the criminal act,” he said at the time (link in Filipino). The following year he also proposed reinstating the death penalty for human traffickers, saying they’re as bad as drug criminals.
So far as president, though, he hasn’t made any detailed public plans about addressing the problem, even as he’s waged an aggressive and controversial war on drugs.

http://qz.com/857921/unicef-calls-the-philippines-the-global-epicenter-of-live-streamed-child-pornography/

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Trike Driver and Parking Attendant arrested in Angeles City Pampanga Philippines in ongoing efforts in WAR V DRUGS

A tricycle driver and a parking boy, suspected of violating the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, were arrested in two separate operations conducted by the city police this week. The city police identified the suspects as Joel Adarlo Porto, 45, a pedicab (trike) driver, a resident of P. De Guzman Street in Claro M. Recto village; and Henry Bucay Salac, 28, a parking boy, of Number 601 Mactan Street, also of Claro M. Recto village. Porto was arrested in a drug bust conducted by operatives of the City Police Station 6 on December 6. Porto was caught in the act of allegedly selling methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu to a police agent along the P. Gomez Street in San Nicolas village at around 10:30 a.m. on said date. Policemen recovered drugs and marked money from the suspect, who was one of the suspected drug pushers who surrendered to authorities during an Oplan Tokhang (toktok-hangyo or knock and plead) few months ago. Salac was arrested at a checkpoint at around 1 a.m. on December 7. The suspect, who was on board a tricycle, was flagged down by policemen conducting Oplan Sita along G. Valdez Corner Rizal Street in the village of Agapito Del Rosario, this city. The suspect was accosted by authorities for driving a trike with no head lights, police said. After a body search, police recovered a sachet containing shabu from the suspect. Porto and Salac were charged with drug pushing and drug possession respectively.

Read more: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/local-news/2016/12/09/2-nabbed-illegal-drugs-angeles-city-514218

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Another Korean Killed in Pampanga Philippines as the Korean Death Toll reaches shocking numbers.

Dec. 9 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean man in his 30s was stabbed to death in the Philippines, raising the number of Korean nationals murdered in the country to eight this year, government said on Friday.

The body of the businessman was found in a villa located in Porac, a heavily populated city in the province of Pampanga, according to the South Korean Embassy. A housekeeper found the victim's body and called the police.

Only identified by his surname Park, the victim was known to have arrived in Porac two days before his death, in search of new business opportunities.

Judging from the fact that Park was stabbed and not shot, experts believe the crime may have been a random robbery or personal vengeance, and not an organized crime by a professional killer.

In late October a South Korean was shot to death while driving in the resort town of Baguio, north of Manila.

Earlier in the same month, three South Koreans were shot and killed in Bacolor, in the northern Philippines. In a joint investigation by South Korean and Philippine police, a 38-year-old South Korean was arrested as the suspect.

The annual murder toll of South Koreans in the Philippines has stayed high in recent years, with the numbers rising from six in 2012 to 12 in 2013 and 11 in 2015.

jwc@yna.co.kr

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