Woman denies sexual abuse of son, admits stripping online for foreigners

CYBERPORN

A 24-year-old mother who was caught in the act of offering to sexually abuse her three-year-old son and livestream the acts from her home in Sitio Kalachuchi, Barangay Looc Lapu-Lapu City denied police claims that she was sexually abusing her own child to gain online fees from foreigners.

Maria, not her real name, told Cebu Daily News that while she sent a video of a child to a foreigner, that was not her son and neither was she the woman seen in that video.

“Wala gyud nako gamita ang akong anak sa cyberporn, duna’y video nga akong na-download ug akong gipasa sa foreigner pero dili to ako ug akong anak kay babaye man tong bata ug ang inahan duna’y tattoo sa kamot,” said Maria. (I never used my child in cyberporn, I downloaded a video and shared it with a foreigner but it was not my son because the child in the video was a girl. The mother shown in the video also had a tattoo on her hand),” she said.

Maria however admitted that she would video chat with foreigners and strip naked for them in exchange for P1,500.

Knowing it to be illegal, Maria said, she did not do this often and only when she had no money to buy rice for her family.

“Dili man gud permi dunay trabaho akong kapuyo nga construction worker, mao nga usahay mag data ko gamit ang cellphone (There are times when my live-in partner who is a contruction worker would have no work. That’s why I would sometimes resort to buying data for my cellphone to chat),” she said.

Her live-in partner, she said, was not aware of her online activities.

Maria, who hails from Barangay Agus, Lapu-Lapu City had just moved to Barangay Looc three months ago where she was arrested by elements of the Women and Children’s Protection Center in Central Visayas (WCPC-7).

WCPC-7 received a report that she was involved in online sexual exploitation and started surveillance work last January 24 which led to the woman’s arrest, Monday.

Aside from her own son, it is believed that Maria has other victims, including a five-year-old girl, who was pictured in one of the explicit photographs.

Smart phones and money transfer receipts were found in Maria’s possession pursuant to the implementation of a search warrant issued by Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Ramon Daomilas, Jr. of the Cybercrime court.

Maria’s mother who visited her at the detention cell could not believe the charges against her daughter.

“Sa didto pa na siya nagpuyo sa amo sa Agus, wala gyud na siya ana (When she was still living with us in Agus, she never did this.),” said Lanie’s mother.

Lapu-Lapu City police director, Senior Supt. Rommel Cabagnot, admitted difficulty in detecting this kind of criminal activity which is done in private rooms.

“We are just thankful that there’s this agency that focuses on these cases in tie-up with foreign agencies to detect cyberpornography,” said Cabagnot.