The House of Representatives has approved on second reading a crucial legislative measure designed to fortify the country’s defense against online child exploitation, specifically targeting the emergence of deepfakes and artificial intelligence-generated abuse materials.
House Bill No. 9461, also known as the “Child Online Safety and Protection Act of 2026,” secured approval via a voice vote during Tuesday’s marathon plenary session. The bill seeks to overhaul and expand Republic Act No. 11930 (the Anti-OSAEC and CSAEM Act of 2022) after lawmakers identified major regulatory gaps exploited by rapidly evolving technologies like encrypted messaging, online payment channels, and AI.
Manila 2nd District Representative Rolando Valeriano, who sponsored the bill alongside House Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III and Ilocos Norte 1st District Representative Sandro Marcos, stressed the gravity of the local crisis.
“The Philippines has long been identified as one of the global epicenters of Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children (OSAEC) and Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials (CSAEM), due to the alarming number of victims and facilitators operating in the country,” Valeriano warned.
Citing grim statistics from the International Justice Mission, Valeriano noted that nearly half a million Filipino children—or one in every 100 minors—were trafficked for abuse materials in 2022 alone.
Furthermore, cybertipline data from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children ranked the Philippines second globally in 2024, with over 1.7 million logged reports.
“These figures highlight the urgent need for stronger and more responsive measures to protect Filipino children online,” Valeriano added.
Sultan Kudarat 2nd District Representative Bella Suansing, head of the technical working group behind the revisions, noted that the bill is the product of intense consultations with law enforcement, civil society groups, and victim-survivors.
“There is a reason why this collective pursuit against the online sexual abuse and exploitation of Filipino children has to be addressed by law, and addressed immediately,” Suansing said during her sponsorship speech. “One day, we want to be able to look at our children in the eye and say that we did our best to protect them from what can harm them.”
Striking Penalties for Modern Threats
The proposed law explicitly expands definitions to criminalize AI-generated, synthetic, and deepfake exploitative content involving minors. It also penalizes livestreamed exploitation, sextortion, grooming, and image-based abuse.
The penalty framework under the new bill includes:
- Life Imprisonment & ₱2M+ Fine: For producing, distributing, livestreaming, or facilitating abuse materials.
- Life Imprisonment & ₱2M to ₱10M Fine: For creating or distributing AI systems and platforms designed specifically to generate or spread child abuse materials.
- Up to 20 Years Imprisonment: For the possession of illegal materials.
- Up to 12 Years Imprisonment: For merely accessing such files.
Penalties will be heavily escalated if the offenses involve syndicates, public officials, relatives, or the use of advanced anonymization and encryption tools.
Additionally, the bill mandates tech companies, internet intermediaries, and digital payment providers to actively detect and disrupt exploitation on their platforms, giving authorities the power to issue swift takedown and blocking orders.