Children in Baguio City will soon be banned from accessing online pornography and violent gaming.

BY ACE ALEGRE
Contributed to Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 32, September 16-22, 2007

BAGUIO CITY (246 kms north of Manila) – Children here will soon be banned from accessing online pornography and violent gaming.

If the proposal to adopt a policy imposing guidelines and regulations on Internet shops’ operations in the city to protect children from access to pornography and violent online games is adopted, said councilor Richard Cariño, a team will be created that would conduct periodic inspections of all Internet shops to ensure that the owners or their staff would not allow any minor from surfing pornographic videos or images.

Cariño said that the setting of guidelines and regulations on the operations of Internet shops is in line with the city’s power and duty to grant permits or licenses to business establishments and it is also in line with the city’s bid to be a child-friendly city.

Aside from prohibiting minors from access to online pornography, the councilor also proposed that Internet cafes should not serve intoxicating alcoholic beverages, especially in the presence of children.

Cariño proposes that to allow the monitoring team to easily determine if an Internet shop is frequently visited by minors, all Internet shops should be required to maintain users’ logbooks, which will be kept for at least six months.

The logbooks, Cariño said, should contain the name, age and address of the Internet users, who at the same time are required to present valid IDs to allow the Internet shops’ staff to validate the information entered into the logbooks.

The councilor explained that the proposed guidelines and regulations are not meant to restrict the operations of Internet shops, saying private business establishments are being recognized as government partners in promoting the general welfare of the public, particularly the children.

“The city of Baguio is a child-friendly city and it must exercise its power, duty and responsibility to protect children from the negative consequences of unregulated use and access to the Internet and other similar establishments,” Cariño said.

In 2005, city-based law enforcement agencies were reported to have been monitoring the possible presence of a clandestine “cyber-sex den” in Baguio, even as initial reports showed that many establishments with Internet connections discourage their clients from surfing pornography.

The monitoring of and crackdown on the clandestine cyber-sex den was brought to the fore during the recent National Law Enforcement Coordinating Council in response to a pending bill on cyber-sex crimes.

Rep. Joseph Santiago of Catanduanes reported in 2005 that there are more than 200,000 Filipinos – males and females, including minors – allegedly offering sexual “services” through the World Wide Web. Contributed to Bulatlat

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