FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
SENATE 
Senate Bill No. 701 
) 
) 
) 
INTRODUCED BY SEN. JINGGOY EJERCITO ESTRADA 
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. 
Senator 


FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
SENATE 
Senate Bill No. 701 
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INTRODUCED BY SEN. JINGGOY EJERCITO ESTRADA 
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 of Representatives of the Philippines 
in Congress assembled: 
SECTION 1. Short Title. This Act shall be known as the "Online 
Children Safety Act of 2010. " 
SEC. 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. 
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. 
SEC. 3. Definition of Terms. 
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 Protocol Internet 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; 
(6) depicts, describes, or represents, in a manner patently offensive with 
respect to children--
(i) an actual or simulated sexual act or sexual contact; 
(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. Commercial 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. 
SEC. 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. 
SEC. 5. Restricted Access to Harmful 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 and internet cafes, shall likewise use such filtering device 
that it deems appropriate for the purpose of blocking webpages that contain 
materials harmful to children. 


SEC. 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. 
' 
SEC. 7. Duty to Report. - It is hereby mandatory for all Intemet 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 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. ' 
SEC. 8. Penalties. 
(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,OOO.OO) 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,OOO.OO), 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. 


SEC. 9. Online Child 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 
(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 is 
technologically capable of being embedded into the source code a website. 
SEC. 10. Functions of the 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.chi1 dren's access to prohibited websites: 
3. Recommend measures that wil! 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 
provisions of this Act. 
6. Perform such other functions as may be necessary for the implementation of 
the 
SEC. 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 year 
following its enactment into law. 
SEC. 12. Separability Clause. - Iffor any reason, any portion or provision 
of this Act is declared unconstitutional or invalid, such parts not affected thereby 
shall remain in full force and effect. 


SEC. 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. 
SEC. 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,