20 Children Rescued from Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation through Back-to-Back Operations with IJM and Philippines Police

Following Malacanan’s directive to intensify operations against Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (OSAEC), on February 3, 2021 the PNP Women and Children Protection Center (WCPC), through the Philippine Internet Crimes against Children Center (PICACC), in coordination with its Local Police Units and respective CSWDs of Angeles City and Tarlac City with the support of International Justice Mission (IJM) conducted a back-to-back rescue operations across Central Luzon that resulted in the rescue of 20 children exploited online by sexual predators in other countries, and arrested four (4) suspects, two of them are mothers of some of the victims.

Commenting on the events that transpired, Australian Federal Police Senior Officer to the Philippines, Detective Superintendent Andrew Perkins, had this to say:

“The Australian Federal Police, a partner agency of the Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Centre (PICACC), referred intelligence into the PICACC resulting in the investigation led by the Philippine National Police.”

In Tarlac, the WCPC, through the Transnational Criminal Investigative Task Force (TCITF), after investigating on the information from the US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) , rescued 9 children, and arrested three suspects.

“Through these strong partnerships we are able to identify and rescue those who are victimized through online sexual exploitation and bring those responsible to justice both in the Philippines and the United States.,” Ricardo Navalta, the Homeland Security Investigations attaché expressed his gratitude.

In the same city, the WCPC through its Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division rescued four (4) children with abused materials after having been identified through a proactive online investigation . “The President has spoken, OSAEC must be addressed and perpetrators brought to justice. The WCPC is committed to this order from the President,” said PBGEN ALESSANDRO C ABELLA, the Chief of the PNP-WCPC.

“We appeal to the public: your concern and vigilance is critical to the removal of children from online sexual exploitation. Report to AlengPulis on Facebook,” the PNP-WCPC’s Chief added.

The children are now safe in the custody of partner agencies providing trauma-informed and recovery care.