Arroyo signs anti-child porn bill into law
November 19, 2009
MANILA, Philippines—From a haven of pedophiles to a safe haven for children.
This is how officials and advocates envision the country to be with the enactment of the Anti Child Pornography law.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has signed Republic Act 9775 late Tuesday.
“We used to be a haven for child pornography proliferators and foreign pedophiles, now our country is going to be a safe haven for children,” said Tarlac Representative Monica Teodoro, one of the main authors of the measure.
The law defines child pornography as “any representation, be in visual, audio or written, combination thereof, by electronic, mechanical, digital, optical, magnetic or other means, of a child engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities.”
Any person who produces, distributes, publishes and commits other related acts would also be subject to penalties. Violators may include internet service providers and internet content hosts.
Under the law, the child victim of these acts is recognized as victim of violent crime and may claim compensation and protection. It also provides mandatory services for victims such as emery shelter, counseling, free legal, medical and psychological services and educational assistance.
Perpetrators may be penalized with fines ranging from P50,000 to P5 million and reclusion perpetua as the highest penalty.
In the country, children as young as seven years old have fallen victims to child pornography by being commissioned to perform in cybersex dens, the most common online form of pornography, Teodoro said.
She hailed the timeliness of the measure’s passage, saying the country is about to commemorate the 20th year of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on November 20.
Philippine president signs Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has signed Republic Act 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009 which seeks to make Filipino children less vulnerable to the illicit trade by imposing stiff penalties on anyone found guilty of any form of involvement in child pornography and enjoining private entities to help in the effort, according to local media Wednesday.
Republic Act 9775, which Arroyo signed on Tuesday, defines child pornography as “any representation, whether visual, audio, or written combination thereof, by electronic, mechanical, digital, optical, magnetic or any other means, or a child engaged or involved in real or simulated explicit sexual activities.”
It provides that a victim of child pornography shall be considered as a victim of a violent crime, and metes out penalties ranging from mayor to reclusion perpetual and a fine of 300,000 to5 million pesos (6438 to 107,296 U.S. dollars).
The new law criminalists hiring, employing, using, persuading, inducing or coercing a child to participate in the production or any form of child pornography; and any form of involvement in creating any form of child pornography.
It also criminalists publishing, offering, transmitting, selling, distributing, broadcasting, advertising, promoting, exporting or importing any form of child pornography; possessing any form of child pornography with the intent of selling, distributing, publishing or broadcasting them; and possessing and willfully accessing any form of child pornography.
The law also specifies the duties and responsibilities of internet service providers, mall owners and operators or lessors of business establishments, and internet content hosts to report any commission of any form of child pornography in their respective areas.
