Cebu mother offered to ‘do it all’ when live-streaming child sex abuse

abuse
The suspect’s house. Picture courtesy of the International Justice Mission.

A young mother from Cordova, Cebu, has been arrested after offering to live-stream the sexual abuse of children in exchange for 3,000 pesos.

Speaking to an investigator posing as a foreign client, the 22-year-old promised to “do it all” with the young victims.

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Anti cybercrime officers rescued three girls, aged 12, 12, and 15, from online sexual exploitation during the entrapment operation in Barangay Poblacion, Cordova on Saturday (June 23).

A four-year-old girl and the suspect’s two sons, aged two and five, were also removed for assessment by social workers.

During the entrapment operation, the woman offered to engage in sexually explicit acts involving penetration with two of the rescued girls. 

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One of the 12-year-olds was found inside the woman’s house. The other two victims were rescued from neighbouring houses.

Although the suspect’s sons and the four-year-old girl were not offered to be sexually abused, they were nonetheless in the house when the crime was taking place. They were still being assessed to determine if they suffered abuse at the hands of the suspect or were offered to online pedophiles.

The suspect had been under surveillance since May.

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All six children are now in the protective custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development. 

Fighting child sex abuse

The entrapment operation was supported by the International Justice Mission (IJM) an international organisation that fights poverty and abuse.

John Tanagho, IJM’s Cebu Field Office director, said: “This case also refutes the myth that online sexual exploitation is supposedly a ‘harmless crime’ where children are shown ‘naked’. Stripping children naked for online pedophiles is traumatising enough. But online sexual exploitation (or ‘cyber-pornography’) is so much more; like many suspects, Miriam allegedly offered to engage in sexually explicit acts with a 12-year-old girl and ‘do it all’. Let’s end the online sexual abuse of children together sooner than later.”

The entrapment and rescue operation was the eighth in Cebu this year alone, and the fifth in the Philippines in just two weeks.

The suspect will be charged with violations of Republic Act (RA) 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act as amended by RA 10364, and RA 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Act in relation to RA 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act.

The rescued children will receive psychosocial interventions, including therapy and rehabilitation.

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