For only P50 people can get Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials (CSAEM) from the Philippines, the Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed on Tuesday, Feb. 13.

“There are also CSAEM platforms na P300 pa lang makakapagsubscribe ka na sa mga videos. ‘Yung sa Telegram naman it can go as low as P50 (There are platforms where you can get CSAEM videos for a subscription fee of P300. In the online messaging application Telegram, you can go as low as P50),” said DOJ Assistant Secretary Jose Dominic F. Clavano IV on the occasion of Safer Internet Day.

Clavano said this was discovered by the research conducted by the DOJ on CSAEM and Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (OSAEC).

“Sa unang tingin hindi mo mapapansin na para sa OSAEC or CSAEM. Sa unang tingin parang nagtatransfer ka lang ng pambayad sa pamasahe o sa pagkain pero ‘yun meron ng underlying na crime (At first glance you won’t notice that these are for OSAEC or CSAEM. At first glance the money transfers being made seemed like for transport fare or for food but there is already an underlying crime,” he lamented.

He said that also discovered that "per our research, OSAEC subscription to online platforms can go from anywhere between P1,500 to P15,000.”

Thus, he said, the government has been conducting dialogue with money transfer businesses like Palawan and GCash.

“Meron na tayong ginagawang consultation and dialogue with money service businesses na hindi pa covered sa Anti-Money Laundering Act (We are already conducting consultations and dialogue with the money service businesses which are not covered by the Anti-Money Laundering Act),” he said.

 He pointed out that the suspicious transactions through these money service businesses are not covered transactions that the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) watches out for.

“‘Yung Anti-Money Laundering Council kasi P500,000 and above lang ‘yung covered transactions tapos ‘yung iba’t ibang methods kagaya ng smurfing at iba pang mga money laundering method ay kinoconsider na suspicious transactions (The AMLC only monitor transactions that are P500,000 and above and the other money laundering methods like smurfing are considered suspicious transactions),” he said.

Smurfing is a  money laundering scheme where a large sum of money is broken down into smaller, less suspicious amounts to evade reporting requirements.

Meanwhile, Clavano disclosed that “in 2023 there were 102 cases filed out of 673 throughout the years from 2004.”

“So medyo lumalakas na po ang ating case build up, investigation para mapadali ang filing ng mga kaso (So we have strengthened our case build up and investigation so we can easily file cases),” he said.

He also reminded social media platforms and internet mediaries of their duties under Republic Act 11930, also known as the Anti-OSAEC and Anti-CSAEM Act.

“Alam naman natin kung wala sila wala ring channel o avenue ang mga bata kung saan sila mabibiktima sa ganitong krimen (We all know that without  them there would be no channels or avenues where such crimes victimizing children will happen),” he pointed out.

He warned that penalties would be imposed against these social media platforms and internet mediaries that fail to comply.