The House Committee on Welfare of Children chaired by Tingog Sinirangan party-list representative Yedda Marie Romualdez approved on Wednesday, Jan. 26, the amended substitute bill strengthening the Internet and digital content safety and online protection for children.
Romualdez said the substitute bill is representative of the stakeholders’ desire to give a strong online protection policy for the children who are all at risk from the inevitable dangers that co-exist with the advancement of inter-connection and technology.
The measure has protective features but it also does not ignore the evolving capacity of the child to learn, to explore, and to enjoy the emerging technologies, according to her.
She cited the most important feature of the bill, which declares what constitute acts inimical to the online protection of children. These include:
- Child sexual exploitation and abuse materials;
- Creation of high-risk viral challenge;
- Cyberbullying;
- Cyberstalking;
- Cyber mob attack;
- Online child trafficking;
- Online impersonation;
- Online grooming;
- Online publication of child terrorist and violent extremism;
- Recruitment and exploitation materials;
- Online selling of non-essential materials, products and services harmful to the physical and psychological safety and well-being of children; and
- Selling of intimate sexual images as well as streaming of child sexual abuse and exploitation.
Government agencies and stakeholders proposed amendments to the bill during the hearing which included recommendations from the Department of Justice (DOJ); National Privacy Commission (NPC); End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT) Ph; and Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), among others.
The bill will now be submitted to the Committee on Appropriations for its funding provisions.
