Underscoring the urgency of protecting minors from sexual abuse and exploitation, the House of Representatives spent less than two hours approving the proposed Anti-Child Pornography Law on second reading and is set to finally dispose of the measure next week.

Quezon City Rep. Matias Defensor, one of the principal authors of the bill, lauded the swift approval on Tuesday night of House Bill 6440, saying that majority of the country’s congressmen have been supportive of the measure since it was filed a few months ago.

“In passing the bill, we safeguard our children’s right to have a choice in charting their future, free from the pernicious, far-reaching and life-changing effects of child pornography,” Defensor said in sponsoring the measure.

Defensor, chairman of the House committee on justice, noted that while the actual number of child pornography cases in the world has yet to be determined, research on the issue have produced alarming results.

According to Defensor, the United States Department of Justice has estimated that pornographers have recorded the abuse of over one million children in the US alone. Various police operations conducted by several countries have also resulted in the discovery of millions more of images of children victimized into pornography.

“With the age of virtual communications reaching but a fraction of its peak, child pornography is at an all-time high,” the QC solon said.

Defensor warned that that the threat of child pornography in the Filipino home is just a click of a mouse away.

Aside from Defensor, other principal authors of the bill included Reps. Monica Prieto-Teodoro (Lakas-Kampi, Tarlac); Darlene Antonino-Custodio (NPC, South Cotabato); Ignacio Arroyo (Lakas-Kampi, Negros Occidental); Rene Velarde (Buhay); Irwin Tieng (Buhay); Adeline Rodriguez-Zaldarriaga (Lakas-Kampi, Rizal); Rodolfo Plaza (NPC, Agusan del Sur); Bienvenido Abante (Lakas-Kampi, Manila); Rufus Rodriguez (PMP, Cagayan de Oro City); and Danilo Suarez (Lakas-Kampi, Quezon).