The European Union is "pleased" with President Arroyo's signing of the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009 that seeks to shield every child from all forms of exploitation and abuse.

EU Ambassador Alistair MacDonald said the passage and signing of the anti-pornography bill on Nov. 17 signified the government's commitment to fight child pornography, which is "prevalent" not only in the national but also in the international landscape as well.

"It is extremely a positive step forward to fight child pornography. We are pleased that the legislature passed the bill and the President signed it into a law on November 17," he said in an interview with the Manila Bulletin.

He said the abuse and exploitation hurled against the vulnerable sectors of the society, particularly children, should be stopped and that the government should mobilize its efforts to halt this "prevalent" crime.

The President signed Republic Act No. 9775, or Anti-Pornography Act of 2009, penalizing the crime of pornography which, under the law refers to any representation, whether visual, audio, or written by electronic, mechanical, digital, optical, magnetic or any other means, of a child engaged or involved in real or simulated explicit sexual activities.

The signing of the law also paved the way for the creation of an Inter-Agency Council against Child Pornography, to be headed by the Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

The council comprises the Department of Justice (DoJ), Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE), Department of Science and Technology (DoST), Commission on Human Rights (CHR), National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), Optical Media Board (OMB), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC), Philippine Center for Transnational Crimes (PCTC), and Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT).

Violators of the newly signed law is punishable by life imprisonment and a fine of P300,000 to P5 million.