By Kier Edison C. Belleza
A 20-year old woman was arrested in Barangay Dumlog, Talisay City, Cebu, Friday, for supposedly selling nude photos of her own sisters online.
Chief Insp. Leo Dofiles, Regional Anti-Cybercrime Office (RACO) Director for Central Visayas, said Anna (not her real name) was using popular social media site, Facebook, in transacting with foreign clients, charging up to P5,000 per batch of nude photos of her two younger sisters, aged 16 and 17.
Dofiles noted they had been tracking Anna since September.
She was finally caught in the act when she agreed to transact with a RACO personnel pretending to be a customer.
Rescued in the ensuing operation were Anna’s sisters as with her two children aged 2 and nine-month-old.
RACO is now investigating whether the two were also used by the suspect in her transactions.
The four minors were placed in custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development in Central Visayas.
Anna is now facing several charges including the violation of Republic Act (RA) 10175 (Cybercrime Prevention Act), RA 9775 (Child Pornography Act), RA 7610 (Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act), and RA 10364 (Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons of 2012). She has been denied bail.
Anna, in an interview, blamed poverty for her actions, relating how her family only rely on the earnings of her husband, a tricyle driver.
Meanwhile, in in Barangay Cabcaban, Bindoy, Negros Oriental, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) and other concerned government agencies rescued a minor from a store selling secondhand apparel or ukay-ukay.
In a report she sent to DoLE-Central Visayas Acting Regional Director Cyril Ticao, Marites Mercado, chief of DoLE-Negros Oriental, said the rescued child had been working at the stall reportedly owned by a certain Richard Baena for a month before her rescue.
Apart from employing a minor, a violation of Republic Act 7610, the employer was found to have also violated several laws under the General Labor Standards (GLS).
“During the series of mandatory conferences conducted, we found out some GLS violations on underpayment; non-payment of overtime; non-compliance to weekly rest periods; and non-payment of 13th month pay, holiday pay and premium pay, among others,” Mercado said.
The 15-year old is now in the custody of her mother, who vowed to send her back to school after receiving R15,000 under DOLE’s Kabuhayan Para sa Magulang ng Batang Manggagawa (KASAMA) program.
