Senator Risa Hontiveros, serving as the Senate Deputy Minority Leader and chair of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality, has introduced a resolution to investigate the increasing incidents of online sexual abuse and exploitation of children. The resolution, Senate Resolution No. 1307, was filed on Monday and points to the growing problem of criminal networks that utilize chat platforms and electronic wallets to perpetrate these crimes.
Hontiveros expressed concerns in the resolution about the challenges posed by end-to-end encryption, which, while protecting the privacy of legitimate users, also enables sexual predators to avoid detection by law enforcement. She emphasized that the use of encrypted messaging and anonymous payment methods allows these criminals to operate undetected, complicating efforts to apprehend them.
The senator called for the development of stronger policies and enforcement strategies to tackle online child exploitation, specifically highlighting the need to examine the role of digital payment platforms in enabling illegal transactions. Hontiveros urged the national government to enhance monitoring of encrypted chat platforms and bolster cybersecurity efforts to dismantle these online abuse networks.
A report from the cybersecurity research group Deep Web Konek revealed the existence of over 100 private online channels dedicated to illegal content. One of the largest channels reportedly had more than 100,000 members and contained over 40,000 digital files, including explicit videos and images of minors. These transactions were facilitated primarily through e-wallets like GCash, with the use of mule accounts and disposable digital wallets to hide the financial trails.
Disturbingly, some cases involved parents exploiting their own children, with one woman allegedly distributing over 200 illicit files featuring her own child.