FIVE individuals including a minor are now facing charges for using children in online pornography in Saray village, Iligan City, the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) in Northern Mindanao said.
The suspects were caught in the act of facilitating the children as young as two years old to commit, for a fee, lewd acts for a foreign audience in front of a computer.
ACG-Northern Mindanao identified the suspected persons as Samsodin Lantingan, 22; Mark Kevin Ragasi, 25; “Trixia,” 15; “Nelly,” 18; and “Linda,” 43 (not their real names). All are residents of Purok 2, Saray village.
Trixia and Ragasi are living together, Nelly is the common-law wife of Lantingan. Trixia and Nelly are sisters. The siblings and their partners live in one house. Nelly and Lantingan’s two-year-old daughter was one of the victims.
Chief Inspector Ignacio Gamba III, ACG-Northern Mindanao chief, said the suspects were charged with violation of Section 6 of RA 10175, RA 9208 as amended by RA 10364 otherwise known as the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Person Act of 2012, RA 7610, and RA 9775.
It was believed that the money the suspects earned from these online shows was used to buy illegal drugs.
Gamba said the PNP’s Women and Children Protection Center and ACG-Northern Mindanao conducted a thorough surveillance on the activities of the suspects after receiving reports tracing their whereabouts through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and Yahoo Link Diagram.
The law enforcers found it easier to track the perpetrators down since one of the suspects, Trixia, used to be a victim of child pornography herself when she was 12 years old.
In the course of its investigation, ACG-Northern Mindanao learned that Trixia allegedly began using methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu” at a very young age.
Gamba said the suspects’ clients are asked P1,000 to P3,000 per show which runs from three to five minutes. The payment was sent through money courier service.
The suspects, however, denied they committed a crime when authorities raided the residence of Linda where they conducted the online pornographic shows.
Seized from Linda’s house were four units of coin-operated computers, a modem, a switch hub, a cellular phone, and a curtain which was used to cover the area where the shows were conducted.
During the raid, four children were rescued and are now being take care of by the City Social Welfare and Development.
