FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
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S E N A T E  
S. B. No. 
INTRODUCED BY HONORABLE MAR ROXAS 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Computer technology has enhanced our lives in many ways, as demonstrated by its 
prevalent use in businesses, homes, schools, libraries and even in commercial establishments. 
For children especially, ’ the’ Internet provides unique educational opportunities and even 
serves as their primary source for research. However, the onset of this technology has also 
brought about a different venue for child predators and perpetrators of crime. 
, To date, there is no study on the incidence of internet-related crimes where the 
victims are children here in the Philippines. A survey conducted by the New Hampshire 
based Crimes Against Children Research Center on Internet victimization of children 
showed disturbing results. According to the survey, 1 out of 5 children who regularly use the 
Internet received sexual solicitations, 1 in 4 children has an unwanted exposure to pictures of 
naked people and 1 in 33 children received aggressive sexual solicitation through personal 
correspondence. 
Thus, this bill seeks to ensure that safety measures aimed at protecting children from 
harmful materials in the Internet are available by requiring commercial establishments, 
schools and other public institutions from which the Internet can be accessed to use a 
filtering device. This bill further proposes the identification of a website that may contain 
materials harmful to children by mandating that a “tag” created by the National 
Telecommunication Commission be displayed initially when such websites are accessed. As a 
means to strengthen the provisions of this proposed Act, penal sanctions will be meted out 
for violations of this measure. 
Our children are the most vulnerable against exploitative acts and other Internet- 
based crimes. The shroud of anonymity that the Internet gives the perpetrators makes the 
danger to our children greater. These cybercrimes transcend jurisdictional boundaries, hence 
, it is even more imperative for us to establish safeguards for our youth when they use the 
Internet. 
In view of the foregoing, early passage of this bill is earnestly requested. 


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FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
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REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
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8 JUM 11 P 3 2 2  
First Regular Session 
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S. B. No. 
INTRODUCED BY HONORABLE MAR R O U S  
AN ACT 
REQUIRING COMMERCIAL ESTABLISHMENTS AND PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS TO USE 
APPROPRIATE FILTERING DEVICES AND FIREWALLS THAT WILL RESTRICT 
CHILDREN’S ACCESS TO HARMFUL MATERIALS, DEFINING FOR THAT PURPOSE 
OFFENSES RELATED THERETO, PRESCRIBING PENALTIES THEREFOR AND FOR 
OTHER PURPOSES. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House OfRepresentatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assem bled: 
SECTION 1. Short ntle. This Act shall be known as the “Online Chik’SafetyAct of 
2008. ” 
SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. Respecting the constitutionally enshrined right of 
every person to freedom of speech and expression, the State adopts a policy of maintaining a 
balance between non-interference with the use and access to the Internet and protecting the 
well-being of our children. Pursuant to this, the State shall ensure that the necessary 
safeguards against materials in the Internet that may be harmful to children are established. 
Further, the State shall establish and implement measures that will limit and restrict the 
access of children to sexually explicit materials, graphic violence, information on drugs, 
alcohol and other injurious substances and all other materials harmful to children, at the 
same time ensuring their continued access to the Internet for research and other purposes. 
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The State further declares its policy to promote and protect the physical, moral, 
spiritual, intellectual and social well-being of children. In furtherance thereto, the State shall 
adopt a mechanism that will identify restricted websites, as well as require the use of 
effective filtering devices. In addition, the State shall give highest priority to the employment 
of strategies that promotes safe online activity for children, helps parents shield their 
children from inappropriate materials and seeks not only to prevent Internet-based child 
exploitation, but ,also to investigate and prosecute persons who provide access of exploitative 
materials to children. 
SECTION 3. Definition of Terns. 
a. Child or Children means any person below 18 years of age, or those over 18 but 
unable to take care of themselves or protect themselves from abuse, neglect, exploitation or 
discrimination because of a physical or mental disability. 
b. Internet means the collective myriad of computer and telecommunications 
facilities, including equipment and operating software, which comprise the interconnected 
world-wide network of networks that employ the Transmission Control ProtocoLlInternet 
Protocol, or any predecessor successor protocols to such protocol, to communicate 
information of all kinds by wire or radio. 
c. Material that is Harmful to Children means any communication, picture, image, 
graphic image file, article, recording, writing, or other matter of any kind that is obscene, or 
that a reasonable person would find-- 
(A) taking the material as a whole and with respect to children, is designed to 
appeal to, or is designed to pander to, the prurient interest: 
(B) depicts, describes, or represents, in a manner patently offensive with 
respect ta children-- 
(i) an actual or simulated sexual act or sexual contact; 
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(ii) an actual or simulated normal or perverted sexual act; or 
(iii) a lewd exhibition of the genitals or post-pubescent female breast; and 
(C) taking the material as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or 
scientific value for children: 
(D) taking the material as a whole and with respect to children, is designed to 
entice children to the use of alcohol, drugs and other dangerous substances. 
d. Internet Service Provider means any company that provides Internet access for 
individuals, organizations and companies. 
e. CommerciaI Establishment means any business offering Internet access or services 
for a fee or profit. 
f. Website means any collection of material placed in a computer server-based file 
archive so that it is publicly accessible over the Internet using hypertext transfer protocol, or 
any successor protocol. 
g. Filtering device means any software installed in the computer or any program 
activated from the service provider or any other such device that can effective block 
unwanted websites particularly those containing sexually explicit and/or violent materials. 
SECTION 4. Coverage. - The provisions of this Act shall be applicable to all 
commercial establishments granting access to Internet, with or without a fee, and to all other 
public institutions from which children can access the Internet. 
SECTION 5. Restricted Access to HarmfiI Materials. - All commercial establishments 
shall restrict access to. materials harmful to children by offering filtered Internet service 
using end-user or PC-based filtering software or any such other filtering device to all 
Internet users defined as children under this Act. 
All other offices, companies, establishments or public institutions offering Internet 
services or access, such as but not limited to private or public schools, libraries, restaurants 
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and internet cafes, shall likewise use such filtering device that it deems appropriate for the 
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purpose of blocking webpages that contain materials harmful to children. 
SECTION 6. Prohibited Acts. The following acts are hereby declared prohibited and 
unlawful: 
(a) Operating a website primarily for commercial purposes knowingly, and with 
knowledge that it contains material that is harmful to children, except when: 
(1) the home page, or any other page or screen that is initially viewable by a 
visitor to such website, does not include any material that is harmful to children; 
(2) access to any such material is restricted to a specific set of individuals 
through an age verification requirement; and 
(3) the source code of such website contains the content description tag 
assigned to such website by the National Telecommunications and Information 
Administration. 
(b) Operating a website containing any material harmful to children without 
displaying prominently the NTC tag on the home page or screen initially viewable by a 
visitor. 
SECTION 7. Dury to Report. - It is hereby mandatory for all Internet Service 
Providers, credit-card companies and banks, teachers, and duly-licensed commercial 
establishment owners to report suspected and actual operation of website containing 
materials harmful to children over the Internet, including but not limited to child 
pornography, sexually explicit and violent materials, without displaying the NTC tag as 
required under Section 6 of this Act to the Online Child Safety Council established under 
this Act, or to the nearest law enforcement office in the locality. 
Any person, having actual knowledge that a commercial establishment or a public 
institution from which children can access the internet does not make use of the required 


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filtering device, have the duty to immediately report the same to the Online Child Safety 
Council or to the nearest law enforcement office in the locality. 
SECTION 8. PenaIties. 
(a) Any person, natural or juridical, found in violation of Section 5 hereof shall be 
punished with imprisonment of prisi6n mayor and/ or a fine of not less than One Hundred 
Thousand Pesos (Php100,000.00) at the discretion of the court of proper jurisdiction. 
(b) Any person, natural or juridical, found in violation of Section 6 hereof shall be 
punished with imprisonment of prisi6n correctional and/or a fine of not less than Seventy 
Thousand Pesos (Php70,000.00), at the discretion of the court of proper jurisdiction. 
(c) In addition to the above penalties, all permits and licenses given to the website 
operator, or to the commercial establishment shall be revoked. All properties and 
instrumentalities used in committing the acts in Sections 5 and 6 hereof, as well as all the 
proceeds therefrom, shall likewise be forfeited in favor of the government. 
(d) In case the offender is a juridical person, the president, vice-president, and 
chairman of the board shall be liable for the penalty of imprisonment. 
(e) All persons found to be non-compliant with the mandatory reportorial 
requirements set forth in Section 7 hereof shall be fined the amount of not less than Thirty 
Thousand Pesos. 
SECTION 9. Online Chjld Safety Council - There is hereby established an Online 
Child Safety Council under the Department of Social Welfare and Development as the 
primary agency responsible for the implementation of this Act. It shall be chaired by an 
Undersecretary of the DSWD and composed of duly designated representatives from the 
following departments: 
(a) Department of Education; 
(b) Department of Interior and Local Government 
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(c) Council for the Welfare of Children; 
(d) Commission on Information and Communications Technology; and 
(e) National Telecommunications Commission. 
Within ninety (90) days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Council shall 
establish a Working Group, which will design and develop a common content description tag 
not later than one hundred twenty (120) days from the enactment of this Act, that: 
(1) will provide consumers with advance warning and information about the 
content of any website that contains material that is harmful to children: 
(2) will allow consumers, based on such tag, to block or filter access to, and 
display of, any website that contains material that is harmful to children; and 
(31 is technologically capable of being embedded into the source code a 
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website. 
SECTION 10. Functions ofthe Council: 
1. Review and evaluate the status and effectivity of the implementation of this Act; 
2. Determine and approve the appropriate Internet filtering and blocking software 
that will effectively restrict.chi1dren’s access to prohibited websites: 
3. Recommend measures that will further ensure safety of children in cyberspace 
which includes but not limited to educational campaigns, development of 
blocking and filtering software, labeling, or other technologies; 
4. Develop, as part of its Internet safety policy, a program for educating children 
about appropriate online behavior, including interacting with other individuals on 
social networking websites and in chat rooms; 
5. Conduct regular on-site inspections of commercial establishments and other 
institutions to monitor compliance with the provisions of this Act; and 
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provisions of this Act. 
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6. Perform such other functions as may be necessary for the implementation of the 
SECTION 11. Appropriations. - The amount necessary for the initial implementation 
of this Act shall be taken from the appropriation of the Department of Social Welfare and 
Development under the General Appropriations Act. Thereafter, such amount as may be 
necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act shall be included in the appropriations of the 
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year following its enactment into law. 
SECTION 12. Separability Clause. - If for any reason, any portion or provision of this 
Act fs declared unconstitutional or invalid, such parts not affected thereby shall remain in 
full force and effect. 
SECTION 13. Repealing Clause. - All laws, presidential decrees, executive orders, 
issuances, rules and regulations or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this Act 
are hereby repealed or modified accordingly. 
SECTION 14. Effectivity - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its 
publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation whichever comes earlier. 
Approved, 
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