OSAEC and CSAEM

• Child


  A person below eighteen (18) years of age or those over but are unable to fully take care of themselves or protect themselves from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation or discrimination because of physical, mental, intellectual or sensory disability or condition
• Child sexual abuse


  Any form of communication through any platform or format, or any physical interaction between a child and any person when the child is being used for any act or activity inducing sexual stimulation or for the purpose of sexual gratification or in pursuit of the desire to have carnal knowledge of the child, regardless of the gender of the perpetrator or the victim, or the consent of the victim
• Child sexual abuse or exploitation material (CSAEM/CSAM)

  Any representation, whether offline, or by, through or with the use of ICT, by means of visual, video, audio, written, or any combination thereof, by electronic, mechanical, digital, optical, magnetic or any other means, of a child engaged or involved in real or simulated sexual activities, or depicting acts of sexual abuse or exploitation of a child as a sexual object. It shall also include materials that focus on the genitalia or other private body parts of a child.
• Child sexual exploitation


  Any of the acts even with consent:

  1) CSA with consideration whether monetary or nonmonetary consideration, favor, or benefit in exchange for such abusive or exploitative act

  2) Actual sex with a child or children with or w/o consideration

  3) Employing fraud, machination, undue influence, intimidation, threat or deception by any person to commit SA of or sex with a child or children

  4) Any other similar acts related to child abuse, cruelty or exploitation or to be responsible for other conditions prejudicial to the development of the child
• Grooming


  Predatory conduct, act, or pattern of acts, of establishing a relationship of trust, or emotional connection by another, with a child or someone who is believed to be a child, and/or the family, guardian, and/or caregivers, whether in person or via electronic and other similar devices, for the purpose of perpetrating sexual abuse or exploitation or the production of any form of CSAEM
• Unlawful or Prohibited Acts


  • To hire, employ, use, persuade, induce, extort, engage, or coerce a child to perform or participate in whatever way in the creation or production of any form of OSAEC and CSAEM
  • To produce, direct, manufacture, facilitate, or create any form of CSAEM, or participate in the production, direction, manufacture, facilitation or creation of the same
  • To offer, sell, distribute, advertise, promote, export, or import, by any means, any form of CSAEM
  • To knowingly publish, transmit and broadcast, by any means, any form of CSAEM
  • To permit or influence the child to engage, participate or assist in any form of CSAEM
  • To produce, direct, create, hire, employ or pay a facilitator to stream or livestream acts of child sexual abuse or exploitation
  • To stream or live-stream acts of, or any form of, child sexual abuse and exploitation
  • To recruit, transport, transfer, harbor, provide, or receive a child or to induce or influence the same, for the purpose of violating this Act
  • To introduce or match a child to a foreign national or to any person for the purpose of committing any of the offenses under this Act
  • For film distributors, theaters and ICT services by themselves or in cooperation with other entities, to distribute any form of CSAEM or to facilitate the commission of any of the offenses under this Act
  • To knowingly benefit from, financial or otherwise, the commission of any of the offenses of this Act
  • To provide a venue for the commission of prohibited acts under this section such as dens, private rooms, cubicles, cinemas, houses, private homes, or other establishments
  • To engage in the luring or grooming of a child
  • To sexualize children by presenting them as objects of sexual fantasy, or making them conversational subjects of sexual fantasies, in any online or digital platform
  • To engage in pandering as defined under this Act
  • To willfully subscribe, join, donate to, or support an internet site that hosts OSAEC or the streaming or live-streaming of child sexual abuse and exploitation
  • To advertise, publish, print, broadcast or distribute, or cause the advertisement, publication, printing, broadcasting or distribution by any means of any brochure, flyer, or any material that promotes OSAEC and child sexual abuse or exploitation
  • To possess any form of CSAEM
  • To willfully access any form of CSAEM
  • To conspire to commit any of the prohibited acts stated in this section
• Luring


  The act of communicating, by means of a computer system, with a child or someone who the offender believes to be a child for the purpose of facilitating the commission of sexual activity or production of any form of CSAEM
• Online sexual abuse or exploitation of children (OSAEC)

  The use of ICT as a means to abuse and/or exploit children sexually, which includes cases in which offline child abuse and/or exploitation is combined with an online component. This can also include, but is not limited to, the production, dissemination and possession of CSAEM; online grooming of children for sexual purposes; sexual extortion of children, sharing image-based sexual abuse; commercial sexual exploitation of children; exploitation of children through online prostitution; and live-streaming of sexual abuse, with or without the consent of the victim.
• Pandering


  The act of offering, advertising, promoting, representing or distributing through any means any child sexual abuse or exploitation material, or any material that purports to contain any form of child sexual abuse or exploitation material, regardless of its actual content
• Sexualization of a child


  The act of using a child as an object for the sexual desire or satisfaction of another, even if there is no actual sexual intercourse or no private part of the body of the child has been shown
• Section 5. Effect of Consent of a Victim - The consent of the victim is not material or relevant and shall not be available as a defense in the prosecution of the unlawful acts prohibited under this Act
• Syndicated violation


  Violation of this Act committed by a group of three (3) or more persons conspiring or confederating with one another
• Large-scale violation


  Violation of this Act committed against three (3) or more persons
• Protection of a Good Samaritan

  • Reporting cases under this Act
  • Blocking an internet address
  • Removing a website or domain
  • Taking down of shared videos, pictures, or messages for the services provided by an internet intermediary
  • Providing information for the purpose of an investigation or prosecution of a case involving acts of OSAEC
• Any person who has the responsibility of the actions listed in the previous category shall not be held civilly, criminally or administratively liable if the action was done in good faith, necessary to prevent access or dissemination of CSAEMs, and reported within twenty-four (24) hours
• Section 9. Safe Harbor Exception

  Access, possession and recording of any CSAEM for the purpose of complying with the duties under this Act; the reporting to government authorities; legitimate investigation and administration of the criminal justice system; and legitimate policy, scholarly and academic purposes with requisite ethical clearance, shall not be subject to any civil, criminal, or administrative liability
• Juridical person


  Owner, manager, partner, member of the board of directors and/or any responsible officer of an enterprise who participated in the commission of the crime or shall have knowingly permitted or failed to prevent its commission
• Penalty for juridical person

  1. Impose penalty upon the owner, manager, partner, member of the board of directors and/or any responsible officer

  2. Corporation shall be fined a minimum of 10% but not more than 30% of its net worth

  3. Respective license or permit to operate may be revoked
• Procedure for alien offender

  1. Criminally prosecuted immediately

  2. Deported after serving sentence

  3. Permanently barred from re-entering the Philippines
• Confiscation and forfeiture of proceeds, tools and instruments


  1. Court shall order confiscation and forfeiture in favor of the government

  2. Awards for damages shall be taken from the personal and separate properties of the offender

  3. If offender's properties are insufficient, the deficiency shall be taken from the confiscated and forfeited proceeds, tools and instruments
• All proceeds derived from the sale of properties used for the commission of any form of child sexual abuse or exploitation shall be exclusively used for the purpose of child-rearing programs under the special account of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)
• When the proceeds, tools and instruments used in the commission of the offense have been destroyed, diminished in value or otherwise rendered worthless by any act or omission, directly or indirectly, of the offender, or it has been concealed, removed, converted or transferred to prevent the same from being found or to avoid forfeiture or confiscation, the offender shall be ordered to pay the amount equal to the value of the proceeds, tools and instruments used in the commission of the offense
• Extra-Territorial Jurisdiction


  The State shall exercise jurisdiction over any act defined and penalized under this Act, even if committed outside the Philippines and whether or not such act or acts constitute an offense at the place of commission, if the offense, being a continuing offense, was either commenced in the Philippines; or committed in another country: Provided, That in the case of the latter, the suspect or accused is a Filipino citizen, a permanent resident of the Philippines, and has committed the act against a citizen of the Philippines.
• No prosecution may be commenced against a person under this section if a foreign government, in accordance with jurisdiction recognized by the Philippines, has prosecuted or is prosecuting such person for the conduct constituting such offense, except upon the approval of the Secretary of Justice.
• Section 20. Venue. — A criminal action arising from a violation of this Act shall be filed where the offense was committed, where any of its elements occurred, or where the child is found or actually resides at the time of the commission of the offense: Provided, That the court where the criminal action is first filed shall acquire jurisdiction to the exclusion of the other courts.
• Prosecution of the offense

  1. In accordance with Republic Act No. 9344

  2. Child accorded appropriate treatment and services under the said law
• In cases of self-generated CSAMs


  The child producing the sexualized materials shall be considered as a victim and not as an offender
• The child victim shall be accorded the necessary treatment and services under this Act and in existing laws
• Section 25. Affidavit of Desistance. — Cases involving OSAEC and CSAEM shall not be dismissed based on the affidavit of desistance executed by the victims or their parents or legal guardians. Public and private prosecutors are directed to vigorously oppose and manifest objections to motions for dismissal. Any act that unduly pressures the complainant to execute an affidavit of desistance shall be punishable under this Act.