Philippines Roundup: Sexual abuse against children, landslide, cyberattacks traced to China

Sexual abuse against children

The Council for the Welfare of Children has issued a warning to parents and guardians regarding the growing use of artificial intelligence to create abusive material involving children, urging them to refrain from posting unnecessary photos of minors online. Angelo Tapales, the Executive Director of CWC, made this statement during the Safer Internet Day conference, emphasizing the organization's collaboration with government agencies and the private sector to combat violence and sexual abuse against children, including emerging forms of exploitation, local media Philstar reported. Tapales emphasized the high vulnerability of Filipino children to being exploited for the production of sexually abusive material, with UNICEF previously identifying the country as a significant hub for such activities.

Landslide accident

A tragic landslide hit Maco, Davao de Oro on February 6, burying two buses carrying employees from Apex Mining Co. Seven fatalities have been confirmed, with 31 individuals rescued but injured, and 48 still missing. The landslide struck around 7:30 p.m. in a mountainous area outside the mining site, worsened by heavy rainfall that has persisted in Mindanao since January 28, attributed to a low-pressure area. Alongside those directly impacted by the landslide, 758 families were evacuated as a precautionary measure, local media Manila Bulletin reported.

 Unemployment drops

The Philippine Statistics Authority announced on February 7, that the number of unemployed individuals dropped to 1.6 million in December of the previous year, marking the lowest figure in nearly two decades. According to the PSA's Labor Force Survey of 11,235 households, the unemployment rate stood at 3.1 per cent, a decrease from 4.3 per cent in December 2022, indicating a decline of 617,000 unemployed individuals, reports local media Inquirer. The employment rate surged to 96.9 per cent, representing 50.52 million employed individuals, up from 95.7 per cent in December 2022.

Cyberattacks traced to China

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has revealed that recent cyberattacks targeting several government servers have been traced back to IP addresses originating from China. According to DICT Undersecretary Jeffrey Ian Dy, unidentified hackers attempted to breach servers used by overseas Filipino workers and Google Workspace, which hosts the Philippine government's email and storage for non-confidential data, local media Philstar reported. Jeffrey disclosed this information during a House hearing on Tuesday.

US-Philippine Health partnership

The USAID has reaffirmed the partnership between the United States government and the Department of Health (DOH) of the Philippines to strengthen the Philippine health system and tackle health challenges, including combating tuberculosis (TB) and HIV. During the visit of the Assistant Administrator for Global Health Dr. Atul Gawande in Manila, he engaged in discussions with Philippine Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa and key government stakeholders to explore avenues for strengthening primary health care in alignment with the Philippines' Universal Health Care objectives, local media Sunstar reported.