PARENTS’ NET EDUC VS CHILD CYBERPORN

An advocate said it is important for parents to understand the “digital space” and identify its “bad spaces”

Parents’ education on the use of internet is seen as a solution to lessen cases of child cyberpornography, an advocate said.

Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA) execu- tive director Liza Garcia said internet literacy is important for parents as a way to learn about the digital space their kids are spending at most of the time.

“Kasi nga diba ang mga youth ngayon ay nagi-internet, definitely the reason why natatawag sila as tech savvy. Kaya from our end gusto namin na malaman naman ng mga parents ang digital space para magabayan nila ang mga anak nila palayo dun sa mga bad spaces sa internet (The youth uses the internet often, definitely the reason why they are called tech savvy. That’s why from our end we want the parents to know the digital space for them to guide their kids away from the bad spaces in the internet),” Garcia said in an interview during the Internet Government Symposium at The Royal Mandaya Hotel, Davao City recently.

Garcia added FMA continues to launch internet literacy campaigns to address the concern.

Records from the International Justice Mission (IJM) shows that from 2011 to 2018 at least 99 cyberporn victims were rescued in Cebu, with more than half of them aged 12 years old and below, hailing Cebu as the third highest number of cyberpornography cases in the country from 2003 to 2017.

Meanwhile National Capital Region (NCR) topped the list with 991 cases followed by Central Luzon with 387.

“Aside from the literacy programs on the internet, we still continue to incorporate media literacy as well for the parents to know the role of media in advocating against human trafficking through the internet,” Garcia said.