FILE PHOTO
MANILA — A 31-year-old mother was arrested in Camarines Sur for allegedly pimping her three young daughters in online child pornography.
For $25 to $75 per session, the woman would sell her daughters aged 7, 9 and 11 to foreign pedophiles she met through a pornographic website.
The Philippine National Police’s Anti-Cybercrime Group said the mother was arrested at her house in Barangay Salvacion, Calabanga in Camarines Sur on Wednesday night.
The raid was carried out by virtue of a search warrant by a Naga City court.
The ACG head, Senior Supt. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar, said the woman’s daughters, as well as her one-year-old son, were rescued during the operation.
The woman was caught in the act of selling her eldest daughter for cybersex when she was arrested.
The police official warned parents against engaging their young children in online child pornography.
“The effects of that is devastating on children and cannot be erased, even if they claim that there is no physical contact with the client. They will carry it with them into adulthood,” Eleazar said.
Eleazar said they received a tip from the United States-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on a child pornography ring based in Camarines Sur.
Months of surveillance revealed that the mother, a high school graduate, sold her own daughters to foreign pedophiles who would make the children pose nude and perform sexual acts.
Pretending to be interested clients, the ACG also contacted the mother, who was using Yahoo Messenger and Skype to lure the clients.
Most of the clients were from the U.S., Australia, Europe and other parts of Asia.
During the raid, policemen recovered two laptops, six cell phones, a router, a canopy antenna, and remittance receipts from her clients.
The Camarines Sur provincial prosecutor recommended no bail for the woman, who was charged with child pornography under Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act, RA 7610 or the Anti-Child Abuse Act, and RA 10364 or the Expanded Anti-Trafficking Act.
Her children were turned over to local social welfare workers for safekeeping.
The woman’s husband, who was often out of the house due to work, denied knowledge about his wife’s illegal activities.
Eleazar, however, said the husband might also be investigated for his wife’s activities. SFM