DEPARTMENT of Social Welfare and Development Undersecretary for International Affairs, and Attached and Supervised Agencies Emmeline Aglipay Villar is calling for the full implementation of a law protecting children against online sexual abuse or exploitation.

The official, alternate co-chair to the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), stressed the need to strengthen efforts towards the prevention and protection of children from risks and abuses in the digital world through the implementation of Republic Act No. 11930 or the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children and Anti-Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials Act.

“The full implementation of the law requires us to unite and amplify the mechanisms and systems of concerned government agencies, private entities, and partner institutions to block and filter the dissemination of online child sexual abuse material and child sexual exploitation materials,” Villar said.

“However, we must also strengthen our efforts in terms of capacitating other stakeholders, the children themselves, parents, guardians, relatives, and their communities to arm them with the necessary knowledge to be responsible digital users themselves,” she added.

The agency is also pushing for the establishment of the National Coordination Center Against Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children and Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials.

It is a one-stop-shop processing center for victim-survivors of OSAEC and other related cases of abuse and exploitation of children.