• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Financial difficulties were blamed by Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, regarding the jailed couple who used their four minor children for cybersex, in Bacolod City.
Stressing that it should not be allowed, Lacson said “it shows how lazy they are in taking care of their children.”
On July 14, a jobless couple was arrested by the police during an entrapment operation at Purok Tumpok in Brgy. Taculing, Bacolod City, for allegedly engaging online trafficking and sexual exploitation, using their four minor children.
The entrapment rescue operations was conducted by the Women’s and Children Protection Center of Police Regional Office 7, Bacolod City Police Office WCPD, and Police Station 6, after receiving reports from an informant abroad that a couple in Bacolod City were selling nude photographs of their minor children to foreigners, online.
The rescued minors were aged 9 and 6 years old, as well as 2-year-old fraternal twins, while the jobless parents are 28 and 35 years old.
Seized by the police were four cellular phones, a pocket Wi-Fi, assorted payment receipts, and an unserviceable laptop, among others.
The incident will have a forever effect on the children, Lacson said, as he hopes that the victims will be able to undergo therapy, which he suggested to be the immediate focus.
It will have a scar for life, especially if they understand later on the gravity of what they were told to do. Maybe the victims do not understand what was happening, the governor added.
Lacson said hopes that it is an isolated incident, and not prevalent in Negros Occidental.
The rescued minors are now under the protective custody of the Bacolod City Social Welfare and Development, as their parents could face charges for violating RA 10175, also known as the Cybercrime Prevention Act, RA 7610, or the Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination, as well as RA 9975, or the Anti Child Pornography Act of 2009.*
