By Leilani S. Junio
MANILA, March 17 (PNA)–The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Monday urged the public to participate in reporting child porn sites.
The appeal was made by DSWD Information and Communication Technology Management System (ICTMS) director Felino O. Castro V following an order issued by the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) to internet service providers to block child pornography websites.
Director Castro welcomed the good news on the NTC memorandum as he cited the dangers of lot of porn sites featuring children being easily accessed in the internet by pornographic consumers in some parts of the world.
“Under our agreement with NTC, we were tasked to work together as a member of the Inter Agency Council Against Child Trafficking(IACAT) in providing the block list of the porn sites as protection to vulnerable children,” Castro said.
He disclosed that to date about 3,600 child porn sites were identified through their partnership with other agencies like the Philippine National Police (PNP), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Council for the Welfare of the Children (CWC), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), among others.
He said that since no country has the single capability to identify several porn sites they also work closely with partners all over the world like the Internet Watch Foundation composed of virtual global task force of police agencies across the globe that provided the said list.
He added that parents also can participate in blocking by downloading a software net nanny as parental protection to ensure that their children cannot access the sites in their homes and even in their mobile cellphones.
He stressed that in combating the problem there is a need for massive information campaign to encourage the public to participate in reporting suspicious activities of those involve in child pornography.
To report a child porn sites which sometimes just pop-up from the screen, they may report it to iacat.gov.ph website.
Under Republic Act 9775, or the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009, the perpetrators of child pornography will face proper sanctions.(PNA)