BONTOC, Mt. Province (30 October) -- Children continue to be abused despite the presence of laws and the intensified information campaign conducted by the government and local offices to the people against this social problem.

For the first semester of this year alone, the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office registered 16 cases of abuses to children.

According to PSWD Officer Rosalinda Belagan, out of 16 cases filed and reported to their office, sexual abuse comprise 56 percent of the abuses against children. There are nine sexually abused children where five cases are incest rape, three cases of rape and one case of acts of lasciviousness.

Neglected child comes next with three cases, followed by children in conflict with the law with two cases, and one case each for child abandonment and child at risk. Belagan said some interviewed minors who committed rape revealed that they had been watching pornographic films before committing the crime.

Alarmed with this revelation, Governor Maximo Dalog, in one of the Provincial Peace and Order Council meetings, requested the police to capture pornographic films/materials being sold by vendors coming to the province. These materials are proliferating nowadays and are easily within grasp of minors.