6 Iligan kids rescued from cybersex den

ILIGAN CITY -- Authorities rescued six children, aged 11 months to 10 years old, on allegations that they were used in cybersex activities by adults, a local social welfare official said Saturday.

Jec Sacan, head of City Social Welfare and Development's Pag-asa Youth Home Center, said four of the rescued minors are children of the 24-year old suspect while the other two are her nephews.

Sacan said the minors were rescued on Wednesday (January 9) at the house of the suspect in Barangay Saray here, where authorities said she has been running her cybersex activities with her 59-year old mother.

The daughter and mother tandem were arrested and authorities requested that their names be withheld pending investigation.

"Ang dalawa ay apo nung mother sa ibang anak (the other two were grandchildren of the mother with her other child). The kids were immediately brought to the regional office of DSWD-10 (Department of Social Welfare and Development in Region 10)," Sacan said.

Based on the evidence, operatives of the Regional Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (RIACAT) and personnel of the DSWD-10 alleged that the mother and daughter have been running their residence as a cybersex den for some time.

They said the pair would engage in online sexual acts with the children related to them.

Senior Insp. Russel Tuliao, head of the Women and Children Protection Center-Mindanao Field Unit (WCPC-MFU), said the daughter would take videos of herself in nude and doing obscene actions.

Although he did not say whether all the rescued children have been used in cybersex activities, Tuliao said all the minors in the residence were taken into state custody as they were considered "at risk."

"Once they are in within the area, we considered them at risk so after all the proper processing made by the DSWD, they will decide on the situation of the children," he said.

Chief Insp. Allan Abalde, commander of Iligan City Police Station 5, said the two were connected with other human trafficking suspects arrested in a separate operation in Barangay Tambacan in 2015.

"They (mother and daughter) were being paid as suppliers of nude photos and lewd videos. When those suspects in Tambacan were jailed, these suspects took over as direct contacts to the foreigners who bought" porn materials from them,” Abalde said.

Tuliao said they learned of the suspects' cybersex operation on social media, where the pair allegedly offered the children for online pornographic activities. (PNA)