MANILA – A resolution seeking to look into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s footprint in the Philippines will soon be filed in the Senate.
Sen. Loren Legarda, during the Senate’s Tuesday session, signified her intent to file the measure, emphasizing the need to examine the organizations, syndicates, and public relations companies that allegedly worked to help cleanse Epstein’s physical and digital image.
“This is very recent. It’s right here at our doorstep. I don’t know whether it was him personally or his associates, but this convicted pedophile—who was supposedly a financial wizard at the time and who died or was killed—had a network in the Philippines,” Legarda said in Filipino.
“I will file the resolution to look into Epstein’s footprint in the Philippines, the organizations and syndicates that worked with him, as well as the PR companies that helped cleanse his physical and digital image in the Philippines, based on the reports I have read,” she added.
Legarda said the measure that she and her colleagues are set to file would particularly ask the Department of Justice, the National Bureau of Investigation, or the Senate Committee on Women to look into the reports.
She made the remark during her manifestation of support for Sen. Risa Hontiveros’ sponsorship of Senate Bill No. 1819 under Committee Report No. 27, or the Act Strengthening the Policies on Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children (OSAEC) and Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials (CSAEM).
Hontiveros, in her sponsorship speech, said the measure responds to one of the most brutal crimes of the present time—one that hides behind screens but destroys real Filipino children.
“With each passing day, Filipino children are being turned into commodities—bought, sold, and repeatedly abused, not in dark alleyways but within online platforms that reach the entire world,” Hontiveros said in Filipino.
Noting the continued existence of sexual extortion, Hontiveros said the bill confronts the reality head-on and proposes the following measures:
- First, expand definitions to match today’s technology. Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials will now include computer-generated, digitally altered, or synthesized content.
- Second, sexual extortion will be clearly and explicitly criminalized.
- Third, increase the responsibility of the private sector, as the digital ecosystem is where these crimes thrive. Internet intermediaries are no longer passive conduits.
- Fourth, strengthen cooperation, both domestically and internationally.
- Finally, transform the offenders registry into the Philippine Child Sex Offenders Registry.
ANN/Philippine Daily Inquirer
