JOINING FORCES ALLIANCE ON THE ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN - PHILIPPINES

PRESS RELEASE

Child rights organizations call for the prevention of physical and humiliating punishment against children during the COVID-19 pandemic

MANILA, Philippines — Physical and psychological violence, particularly at home, are among the most pervasive types of abuse experienced by Filipino children. Both can be worsened by the COVID-19 enhanced community quarantine.

In fact, 3 in 5 children have experienced some form of physical violence, the 2016 National Baseline
Study on Violence Against Children revealed. Sixty percent of these cases happened in their own homes, with 1 in 2 children experiencing corporal punishment.

“This disturbing figure can exponentially increase, especially now that parents and caregivers are
experiencing added stress,” said Rowena Cordero, Joining Forces Alliance Convenor and Save the
Children Philippines Chief of Programs. “Children should be protected from experiencing violence at home. And parents need to be supported in coping with stress and in ensuring that parenting
practices respect and uphold children’s rights.”

While the quarantine measures imposed by the government help in controlling the spread of COVID-
19, it may also unintentionally expose children to increased protection risks.

The economic, health, and security problems resulting from the pandemic may take its toll on the
mental health of parents and caregivers. Hence, they may be unable to effectively manage their
stress and frustration. As a result, these adults may resort to using physical, humiliating, and degrading punishment on their children.

To prevent this from happening, we urge the government to:
Ensure timely delivery of social protection and amelioration programs.
Establish accountability and feedback mechanisms for families and children.
Provide mental health and psychosocial support for parents and caregivers, through online
platforms or hotlines, in coordination with private groups.
Set up hotlines and online platforms where children and the public can send complaints about child
abuse cases.
Regularly assess child protection risks throughout the COVID-19 response, including disaggregated
data of children based on age, sex, and disability.
Closely monitor children at increased risk of violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect.

In particular, we call on the Department of Social Welfare and Development to:
Activate child protection programs and response and referral mechanisms.
Ensure that protection and social welfare services are adequately funded and are central throughout
all the stages of the COVID-19 response.

We also urge all local governments to:
Set up child-friendly hotlines for reporting and psychosocial counseling.
Ensure compliance with the DILG Advisory (2 April 2020) on the activation of the Barangay Violence
Against Women (VAW) Desk and the Barangay Council for the Protection of Children (BCPC) during
the Enhanced Community Quarantine.
Disseminate information by dovetailing informative leaflets in relief distribution i.e., stress
management, how to report child abuse, among others.

“The rights of children to be protected from all forms of physical, humiliating, and degrading
punishment in all settings should be everyone’s concern, especially of the government,” said Cordero. “As much as we don’t want children to be exposed to COVID-19, we also don’t want them to be vulnerable to any form of violence.”

About the Joining Forces Alliance

The Joining Forces Alliance on the Elimination of Violence Against Children is a global alliance of child-focused international non-governmental organizations. We are advocating for a renewed commitment of governments to
achieve the rights of children. We are composed of ChildFund Alliance, Educo, Plan International, Save the
Children, SOS Children’s Villages, Terre des Hommes International Federation, and World Vision.

Top 5 K-Content on Netflix that you can Watch at Home with your Family More reasons to stay entertained at home!

Staying at home means more bonding time with your family. Now is the best time to catch up with your favorite TV series and movies. We listed down the top five Korean shows you can binge-watch on Netflix and enjoy with the whole family right now:

1. Crash Landing On You
Everyone’s talking about it. You’ve seen all the memes. If you haven’t checked out this hit show yet, now
is the time to do just that. As the title implies, a rich South Korean CEO accidentally ends up across the
border in North Korea, and she must rely on a North Korean soldier’s help to try and get back home. Of course it isn’t that easy—and for sure, a relationship blossoms along the way. This kilig-inducing show also gives us a fascinating view of Switzerland from start until end. Now that it’s all over, you can binge-watch the entire story on Netflix and see why everyone’s fallen in love with it.

2. Itaewon Class
This ongoing inspiring K-drama is about a young man who overcomes his personal obstacles to succeed
after getting expelled from school and suffering some serious tragedy. He opens his own bar and restaurant to be more like his father, striving to make it big despite having enemies in the city. It’s a heart-tugging and relatable K-drama that tackles real life lessons on hard work, friendship, family, and pursuing one’s dreams.

3. Hi Bye, Mama!
This heartwarming and innocent ghost story marks the comeback of popular South Korean actress Kim
Tae-hee, beloved as one of the country’s most beautiful women, after five years. She plays a wife and
mother who lives on as a ghost after dying in a tragic accident—and she is faced with the opportunity to be reincarnated if she returns home in 49 days. You can now watch the full season of Hi Bye, Mama! on
Netflix.

4. Kingdom
Horror fans are going to love Kingdom. Joseon-era Korea is the backdrop for a story involving political intrigue and a whole lot of zombies, as a prince must fight back against a mysterious disease that turns people undead. The worst part is that the zombie outbreak may be an enemy’s doing! The unmissable nature of Kingdom Season 2 will get you hooked for great thrilling action!

5. The King: Eternal Monarch
The much-anticipated K-Drama on Netflix this April, this tells the fantasy romance situated in two parallel universes between an emperor from a constitutional monarchy who seek to “seal the gateway between dimensions,” and a present-day Korean police detective who wants to protect people’s lives.
From the same scriptwriter who penned the famous K-Dramas that you can watch on Netlflix - Goblin
and Descendants of the Sun – this K-drama will definitely stir your heart and bring you to an all-new
level of a romantic fantasy world.

Enjoy seamless and lag-free streaming with the Philippines’ fastest fixed internet service, PLDT Home
Fibr, as certified by Ookla and OpenSignal. You can also conveniently charge your Netflix subscription straight to your PLDT Home bill. Just register or log in through your PLDT myHome ID and choose the right Netflix plan for you.
With your PLDT Home Fibr connection at home, you can enjoy up to double the speed of your current
subscription. Visit www.pldthome.com to find out more!

Keep your business safe from cyberattacks amid the COVID-19 outbreak and enhanced community quarantine

PRESS RELEASE

While companies are closely monitoring the pandemic and implementing their business
continuity plans hackers with malicious intent are also taking advantage of the situation.

According to Eastern Communications industries that are the busiest during the lockdown are the most vulnerable ones to cyberattacks, which include healthcare, banking and finance, government, and media.

“The COVID-19 crisis shows no signs of disappearing anytime soon. We have to make tough decisions
rapidly as cyber criminals will also continue trying to exploit the situation and create more attacks. It’s
important to stay as vigilant as possible to safeguard your business from getting hit,” said Eastern
Communications Product and Innovation Head Edsel Paglinawan.

Resources and workforce may be stretched at this time, but it also pays for companies to become proactive to secure their businesses. Eastern Communications, one of the country’s premier telecommunications companies, shares ways how to secure businesses from potential cyberthreats.

Educating employees on online security practices

Educated employees on online security practices can put your business at an advantage. It is best for employers to remind employees to be wary of and avoid opening suspicious e-mails to prevent malicious malware from threatening their software or data. Companies should also provide employees with organized business e-mail addresses and make sure that they refrain from using designated
business e-mails to subscribe to unnecessary mailing lists.

Securing online accounts with strong passwords

We all know that in the cyberspace passwords are the first line of defense, they are the key to all our
data and information. It is important to have a strong password that uses alpha-numeric characters and
special characters. It is best to avoid using passwords that contain personal information like birthdays or anniversaries as it can be easily hacked. It is also important to avoid using the same passwords for
different online accounts or websites and to change passwords regularly.

Keeping operating system and security software up to date

Choosing a reliable anti-virus and anti-malware software is also important when you have an online
business. Keeping regular maintenance on updates on the software you use and checking for
vulnerabilities can help prevent any threats in your computer that you use in accessing your business website.

Distributed Denial of Service or DDoS attacks are one of the fastest growing threats in the cyber-attack landscape. A DDoS attack aims to make online services unavailable through overwhelming traffic from multiple sources. Eastern Communications’ CyberDefense protects businesses from basic to the most sophisticated attacks. It also provides Web Application Firewall (WAF) that blocks any Layer 7 threat like cross-site forgery, cross-site scripting, among others; while Content Delivery Network (CDN) generates faster loading of a website, which saves companies money yet enhances website performance at the
same time.

“As businesses continue to aim for mobile workforce, they should also consider to cloudify infrastructure and complex applications and defend investments against sophisticated cyber threats. It also helps to have a trusted expert at your side. Beyond connectivity, we provide end-to-end solutions, from access to the market leaders in cybersecurity to managing business security through unwavering  customer support,” Paglinawan explained.

Back up your data

As your business stores important data about sales, customer information and more, it is important to secure all of your data and effectively back it up to avoid any loss or corruption of data. Setting up
firewalls are necessary to control incoming and outgoing traffic. It secures internal networks from
threats and will be helpful in keeping your critical data safe.

Have a reliable and secure web hosting

Make sure that you choose a reliable web hosting service for all your websites and all your e-commerce
platforms to secure all your data and transactions. Should anything go wrong, and the company website
is disrupted by cyberattacks, a reliable web hosting will properly support the business through it.
Although the pandemic has already affected many businesses at this challenging time, maintaining the
resilience of companies with awareness and technology against cyberattacks can aid in limiting the
impact of COVID-19.

For more information on Eastern Communications CyberDefense, visit http://www.eastern.com.ph/.

JOINING FORCES ALLIANCE ON THE ELIMINATION OF VIOLENCE AGAINST CHILDREN - PHILIPPINES

PRESS RELEASE

A global alliance of child-focused international non-government organizations calls on the national and local governments to intensify efforts against online sexual
exploitation against children (OSEC).

MANILA, Philippines — Taking advantage of the quarantine situation, perpetrators could easily groom children online and coerce them to send and receive sexually explicit
messages, images, and videos.

“With the indefinite suspension of classes due to COVID-19, children are spending more time on the internet, exposed to the dangers of OSEC,” said Euan Crawshaw, Philippine Country Manager of Terre des Hommes - Netherlands. Children and young adults may experience boredom and economic stress as they stay at home for prolonged periods of time,pushing them to engage in risky behaviors in exchange for money.

“With parents and guardians preoccupied with economic, health, and security concerns, children may end up browsing the internet unsupervised,” Cranshaw added.

“As the lockdown bars many people from going to work, they look for various alternatives to sustain family income. Going online to sell sexually explicit materials is among the options, particularly in the Philippines where OSEC has been rampant even before the COVID-19
pandemic,” he explained.

We, the Joining Forces Alliance, support the Filipino children in their call to eliminate OSEC — as reflected in the National Children Manifesto on OSEC, which is written by the children themselves.

We also commend the relentless efforts of the government. And we will support the government in providing services to victim-survivors and in ensuring that children are safe.
Now more than ever, our joint efforts should be intensified. Hence, we are calling on the national government — through the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s Inter-
Agency Council Against Child Pornography; the Department of Justice’s Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking; and the Philippine National Police’s Anti-Cybercrime Group and Women and Children Protection Center — to further strengthen efforts in combating
OSEC during this health crisis:
Ensure that mechanisms for reporting, referral, and responding to OSEC cases are functional at all times, both at the national and local level.

Raise awareness on OSEC through television, radio, and social media, where people mostly spend their time during the crisis. Establish a database and monitoring system for OSEC reports related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are also calling on local government units (LGUs) to increase efforts in preventing OSEC among their constituents. “Social protection and safety net interventions for the COVID-19 response should address heightened and complex physical and economic risks and vulnerabilities of children and low-income households,” said Selena Fortich, Plan International’s Country Program Manager for Child Protection.

“Government interventions should focus on Filipino workers whose source of income were affected due to the temporary closure of business and work, as well as families living below the poverty line,” Fortich emphasized. “The government must ensure that such economic needs are met to prevent parents from selling sexual images of their children online.”

We the Joining Forces Alliance, put forward these recommendations for LGUs: Provide adequate financial and material assistance (i.e., cash, food, or non-food items) to families whose livelihoods are affected. Ensure that prevention measures are functional at all times, such as awareness campaigns, barangay-level reporting mechanisms, and activation of Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC) desks. Devise alternative reporting  mechanismst that is more accessible to the public. Consider the unique needs of victims of violence, such as the need to move homes during quarantine restrictions.

About the Joining Forces Alliance
The Joining Forces Alliance on the Elimination of Violence Against Children is a global alliance of
child-focused international non-government organizations. We are advocating for a renewed commitment of governments to achieve the rights of children. We are composed of ChildFund Alliance, Plan International, Save the Children, SOS Children’s Villages, Terre des Hommes International Federation, and World Vision.