1-YR-OLD RESCUED
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 11 records the youngest victim of trafficking in persons
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 11 recorded the youngest victim of trafficking in person as a oneyear-old child.
DSWD 11 project development officer 3 Alma D. Acera said during the Kapehan sa Dabaw media forum yesterday that a one-year-old child has been rescued in Davao City against online sexual exploitation in July 2018.
“Children are being used in pornography, merong mga videos, photos, explicit sexual videos of children na nakita sa internet or ginabaligya sa online, (It has videos, explicit photos, sexual videos of children that can be seen on the internet or sold online),” Acera added.
She also said that usual perpetrators in this kind of incident are the parents. She added that most of the perpetrators in the country are the parents or a family member but they also have perpetrators who are customers or client of the victim.
Deputy Regional Prosecutor lawyer Barbara Mae Flores, meanwhile, revealed that, “Di naman biological parent yung nag exploit but the adoptive parent (they were not the biological parents but the adoptive parents).”
Flores added that the child was not legally adopted by the suspects.
Acero also said that they are also looking into reports of an online adoption of children which is considered to be illegal. These illegal online adoptions are possible source of human trafficking among the children.
She added that sexual exploitation ranked as the top in trafficking in person (TIP) in Davao Region. In the DSWD 2018 data, since 2015 there were a total of 65 victims of prostitution while there were a total of 15 victims of cyber pornography.
Meanwhile, forced labor was placed at the top two in TIP with 84 victims.
The rescued victims will be placed under the protective custody of DSWD while their psychosocial intervention and legal concerns are being processed.