A Battle Won, Not the War

A one-million drop in reports of online child abuse is a staggering figure, a rare and welcome piece of good news in a relentlessly grim fight. The success of the SaferKidsPH consortium, backed by the Australian Government and implemented by giants of child advocacy, is a testament to what is possible when will, expertise, and resources converge. From over 2.7 million CyberTipline reports in 2023 to 1.7 million in 2024, the tangible result of this multi-sectoral effort offers a sliver of light.

But as the six-year SaferKidsPH program concludes, this victory feels dangerously fragile. This success was a meticulously engineered outcome, built on strengthening laws like Republic Act 11930, training local responders, and launching massive awareness campaigns. Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo rightly called it a “beacon of hope.” The critical question now is: who will keep the beacon lit?

This progress was driven by a consortium and financed by a foreign partner. As they formally hand over the reins, a concerning silence hangs over the question of succession. Which Philippine government agency will now champion this cause with the same vigor? Will the Inter-Agency Council Against Child Pornography (IACACP), the logical successor, be granted the budget and mandate to not just continue, but expand this work? Without a clear, funded, and institutionalized plan, we risk treating this achievement as a finished project rather than the start of a permanent national commitment. We cannot afford for this hard-won ground to be lost to bureaucratic inertia.

Worse, while we celebrate a victory against known threats, the nature of the war is shifting beneath our feet. The very same data that brought the good news carries a chilling warning for the future: a 1,325% surge in reports involving generative Artificial Intelligence and a 192% rise in online enticement. These are harbingers of a new, more insidious wave of exploitation.

RA 11930 was a landmark piece of legislation, and its Implementing Rules and Regulations are forward-thinking in their inclusion of “computer-generated” and “digitally or manually crafted images.” However, a law is only as strong as its enforcement. Are our law enforcers at the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group truly equipped to combat crimes built on deepfakes and AI? While international partners like the UN have provided training, keeping pace with the exponential growth of malicious AI requires sustained, cutting-edge investment in technology and human capital – something that ad-hoc training sessions alone cannot provide. The enemy is fighting with code; our response must be equally sophisticated. We risk fighting tomorrow’s war with yesterday’s weapons.

This is precisely why we cannot afford to drop the ball. SaferKidsPH has done more than just reduce a statistic; it has handed our government a proven blueprint for success. It demonstrated that a coordinated approach – linking the judiciary, law enforcement, social welfare, local government units, and the private sector – is not just an ideal, but a practical, effective strategy.

The path forward is clear, and there can be no excuses. The Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) must now step into the leadership vacuum. They must present to the public a unified, funded, and sustainable national strategy that formally adopts the tools and frameworks pioneered by SaferKidsPH. The consortium’s leaders have urged the government to do so; now, the public must demand it. The time for praising the pilot program is over. The time for national appropriation and permanent implementation is now.

The one-million reduction in abuse reports is a milestone worthy of acknowledgment. It proves that Filipino children can be made safer online. But it is not a conclusion. It is a proof of concept.

History will judge this administration not by this one-time drop in reports, but by whether it possessed the foresight and political will to make this level of safety the new, permanent standard for every Filipino child. The safety of a generation depends not on what has already been achieved, but on what we choose to do next.