Melissa (not her real name) was arrested for cyberpornography. (CDN PHOTO/ LITO TECSON)
A TEENAGE mother was arrested for allegedly taking nude photos and videos of her two kids for a fee.
Melissa (not her real name) took a video of her two children aged 5 and 2 while they bathed near a well in barangay Buagsong, Cordova town in Mactan Island on Saturday when police operatives arrived.
Chief Insp. Rose Santolorin of the Women and Children Protection in the Visayas said an online surveillance and investigation showed the suspect transacted with at least 70 foreign clients.
Melissa, 22, used a cellular phone to take nude photos and videos of her kids, making it hard for investigators to catch her.
An agent who posed as a customer transacted with the suspect who gave in to the request to take naked photos and videos of her kids.
Authorities have been monitoring Cordova town where a number of persons were arrested for cyberpornography operations.
But Santolorin said several residents have shifted from using laptops with cameras to using cell phones because it’s difficult for law enforcers to monitor.
“That’s really been our challenge. I hope people engaged in this kind of business will realize that what they are doing is undoubtedly wrong,” she said.
Santolorin said poverty should never be a reason for people to resort to cyberpornography in which they use their kids as subjects of lewd acts to cater to foreign pedophiles.
“This kind of business destroys the dignity of people, especially if those involved are your kids,” she said. Sought for comment, Melissa admitted to taking nude photos and videos of her two kids, but said she didn’t know that it was wrong.
She said it was her first time to do it upon the request of an online friend. “Inosente gyud tawn ko. (I’m innocent),” she said.
Melissa is detained at the Fuente police precinct stockade pending the filing of charges against her. Since the victims are her own kids, the case falls under qualified trafficking, a non-bailable offense.
While the law against human trafficking allows the media to identify the accused, Cebu Daily News has withheld the name of the suspect to protect the identity of her kids.