In a recent public hearing of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality, it was noted that OSAEC comprised a substantial number of the 17,600 cases of child rights violations in 2023, as reported by the Philippine National Police (PNP) Women and Children Protection Center. Corresponding Senate Resolution No. 1307 filed by Senator Risa Hontiveros cited IJM’s “Scale of Harm Prevalence” study which reported that nearly half a million Filipino children were trafficked online via live streaming in 2022, involving foreign offenders transacting with local perpetrators that seek financial gain.
PLDT, Smart, and IJM have thus been jointly undertaking various engagements with law enforcement units and with child protection advocates and philanthropists from different countries to tackle the alarming reality of OSAEC in the country and foster areas of cooperation to protect Filipino children online.
PLDT and Smart earlier supported IJM in organizing a national summit in September 2024 which included the participation of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., the Department of Justice Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, the Department of Interior and Local Government, PNP units, and leaders from various organizations to push child protection higher up the national agenda.
During the summit, President Marcos, Jr. directed all national government agencies and local government units to ramp up efforts to address OSAEC and integrate child safety in all initiatives and regulations.
PLDT and Smart have also been actively working with IJM in holding a series of dialogues with the latter’s constituents from the United States of America, Hong Kong, and South Korea. These are aimed at promoting awareness of industry solutions and encouraging continuous international community support for local efforts to combat OSAEC.
“While rapidly evolving technologies such as AI bring new capabilities beneficial to everyday life, these are also being used to enable OSAEC, making such crimes against children even more difficult to address. Recognizing this, we at PLDT and Smart continue to update our multi-pronged approach to combat OSAEC. This includes complementing our child protection platform with key partnerships like that with IJM to further strengthen our response and support to the Philippine government’s whole-of-society approach against OSAEC,” said PLDT and Smart Chief Sustainability Officer Melissa Vergel de Dios.
IJM Philippines National Director Samson Inocencio Jr. said in response, “The Philippines is setting a global precedent in building a strong, multi-sectoral response to the scourge of online sexual exploitation of children. Tackling this complex crime requires strategic partnerships across both public and private sectors. PLDT and Smart’s commendable collaboration with the Philippine government and child protection advocates is helping pave the way for a safer world for children. IJM remains committed to working with PLDT and Smart to continually refine and strengthen solutions that protect children both online and offline.”
Parallel to their engagements with IJM, PLDT, and Smart continue to cooperate with the National Telecommunications Commission, law enforcement units, and various courts on the investigation and prosecution of OSAEC cases. In 2024, the telcos received and fulfilled forty-six (46) lawful requests from these authorized agencies for information involving OSAEC cases.
PLDT and Smart also blocked over 1.7 million URLs and online content linked to OSAEC, from June 2021 until the end of February 2025.
These efforts are part of PLDT and Smart’s continuing implementation of their respective human rights and child safeguarding policies and compliance with Republic Act 11930 or the Anti-OSAEC and Anti-Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Materials Law.
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