FILIPINOS: LET US SUPPORT THE ANTI CHILD PORNOGRAPHY ACT

DEAR DEFENDERS OF CHILDREN’S RIGHTS:

Pornography could be in your own home, child pornography is now in the streets, in the malls, in school campus, and internet café’s where your children go. Help pass the Anti-Child Pornography act of 2009 now!

The recent pornographic scandal that reached a nationwide proportion and threatened the right of privacy was brought upon by the mis-use and abuse of internet and telecommunications technology. Many young people, minors and even children have been exposed to the said pornographic material that was on the internet and now downloaded in cellular phones and personal computer units. If there is anything good that will come out of the national scandal, it should be the passage of Anti-Child Pornographic Act of 2009 among other things to protect children and women from abuses in cyberspace.

Over the past years, UNICEF and many NGOs as well as government agencies has been raising awareness about child pornography, with a special focus on generating support for the passage of comprehensive law to address the complexity of child pornography in the Philippines. The UNICEF supported the study on the Modus Operandi of Perpetrators of Child Pornography in the Philippines conformed that child pornography syndicates already exist in the Philippines and that law enforcement response is hampered by the lack of a comprehensive law on child pornography that captures the new modes of producing, transmitting and distributing child pornography in cyberspace. Preda Center for its part has joined the drafting committee under Sen. Jamby Madrigal and for many years has conducted local lobbying for legislation and social awareness of the dangers of child pornography. Preda has attended the senate committee hearings about the Bill.

With UNICEF as the lead agency and the association of NGOs advocating anti-child pornography, we are organizing a 10-day Rally against Child Pornography to call for the speedy passage of the Anti-child Pornography Act of 2009. The 10-day Rally against Child Pornography will mobilize government, NGOs, civil society groups, private sector (i.e. internet cafe owners, ISPs, ICT companies, etc.) and children and youth organizations to organize their own activities, using their existing human and financial resources, to generate media attention and public awareness about the call for the speedy passage if the Anti-Child Pornography Bill of 2009.

Time is now critical. The time for Congress to pass the bill is becoming shorter, as May 2010 elections draw near and the term of the current Congress ends.

WHERE THE PROPOSED LAW IS AT NOW:

In the Senate, Senate Bill No. 2317 entitled “An Act Prohibiting Child Pornography, Imposing Penalties for the Commission Thereof and for Other Purposes” passed Third and Final Reading last November 24, 2008. All Senators unanimously voted for the approval. Two days after, the Bill was forwarded to the lower house requesting for concurrence. In the House of Representatives, House Bill No. 684 entitled “An Act Defining the Crime of Child Pornography, Imposing Penalties Thereof, and for other Purposes” has passed First Reading and forwarded to the Committee on Justice, Committee on the Welfare of Children and Committee on Appropriations for Review and Amendment. Once the lower house version has passed Second and Third Reading, a bi-cameral session will be held to come-up with a consolidated version of the Senate Bill and House Bill.

CHILD PORNOGRAPHY IS ON STREETS, IN THE MALLS, OR MAYBE, IN YOUR OWN HOME!

IMAGINE YOUR OWN CHILD AS A VICTIM.

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT FELLOW FILIPINO.

" A CHILD WAS ABDUCTED BY A MOUSE "

for more information please visit www.preda.org