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Priest seeks to close door on Internet child porn
Published : November 20 2009
"I am delighted it was signed so quickly," Columban missioner Father Shay Cullen told UCA News after the Philippine president signed the Anti-Child Pornography Act on Nov. 17.
Father Cullen is director of the People's Recovery Empowerment Development Assistance Foundation, based in Olongapo City. The foundation aims to protect women and children from exploitation and poverty.
The priest, who helped write the section of the law that deals with ISPs, said he had expected "a great deal of opposition" from these businesses when the law was proposed in Congress.
"The Philippines is now one of the few countries which requires ISPs to stop access to pornography on their sites," Father Cullen pointed out, saying he will now turn his attention to ISPs who continue to allow such access.
The new law punishes producers, distributors or publishers of pornography, including ISPs. It defines child pornography as "any representation, whether visual, audio, written by electronic, mechanical, digital, optical, magnetic or any other means, of a child engaged or involved in real or simulated explicit sexual activities."
Violators face fines of 300,000 pesos to 5 million pesos (US$6,500-$106,400), and/or prison terms ranging from three months to life.
The new law makes it mandatory for ISPs to install "white boxes," as the blocking device that stop user access to pornography are called.
The law gives ISPs six months to install the blocking device, Father Cullen said, adding that one large ISP already provides this system.
In a bid to make others follow suit more quickly, Father Cullen said he will lead the children of Olongapo City in a rally on Nov. 20 to protest ISPs' refusal to immediately stop pornography. Nov 20 marks the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The rally will also try to force the police to arrest street vendors selling DVDs showing Filipino children performing sexual acts.
"One of our biggest challenges is to get the police to arrest these peddlers of filth," Father Cullen said. "The police used to say 'there is no law,' now there is one. So now we have to monitor them to implement it."
Courtesy : UCAN
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