(UPDATED) -- Authorities arrested a 20-year-old single mother for allegedly engaging her two sisters in online pornography in her house past 11 a.m. Friday, in Barangay Dumlog, Talisay City, Cebu.
Chief Inspector Leo Dofiles, the Regional Anti-Cybercrime Office (Raco)-Central Visayas commander, said they rescued Friday, October 27, two sisters of the suspect, 16 and 17 years old.
He said that Salome (not her real name) used a camera phone in transacting with her clients who are mostly foreigners. She charged P5,000 a client per show.
The rescued minors, who are students, were brought to Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)-Central Visayas.
Dofiles did not identify the suspect to protect the identity of the minors, who are her sisters.
He said they had knowledge of the operation of the porn business since September. This is the first case of online trafficking in Talisay City since Dofiles took the post as Raco commander.
This joint operation was conducted by Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, DSWD, Talisay Women and Children Protection Desk, Special Weapons And Tactics, Cebu Provincial Police Office-Public Safety Company, and International Justice Mission.
The suspect will be facing complaints for Republic Act (RA) 10175 (Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012), RA 9775 (Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009), RA 10364 (Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012) and RA 7610 (Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act).
She has been denied bail.
Salome cried during the interview with VoxPop Cebu.
“I used the money to buy milk and food for my two-year-old and nine-month-old boys,” she told VoxPop Cebu’s Johanna O. Bajenting.
She admitted that she knew that what she was doing was wrong but she said that poverty forced her to engage in online pornography.
A foreigner from Chicago, United States had introduced her to the business.
Salome said she now regrets her actions, considering the cases she’ll be facing and the prospect of not being able to take care of her children.
“What will happen to them now? Even though they have a father the social workers still took them,” she said, in tears.
Her live-in partner is a 22-year-old trisikad driver.
Following Salome’s arrest, Dumlog officials plan to strengthen their monitoring activities by strictly registering all residents in their barangay.
That way they can identify the “suspicious” characters, Barangay Captain Nelson Abellana told VoxPop Cebu.
Abellana said that they’ve been conducting a barangay-wide census since last year. Not all, though, have registered since some are transients or renters and only stay for a few months.
This was not the first time that police raided the barangay in connection with cybersex.
In 2014, a Swedish national was arrested after he tried to order two girls to do lewd acts in front of the camera. (JOB, JKV)
CORRECTION: The rescued minors were sisters of the suspect instead of nieces as earlier reported by the police.