Text by Charmaine Lingdas
Photos by Sarah Hazel Moces Pulumbarit

In her Jose Albert Memorial Lecture during the 110th Anniversary of the UP Manila–Philippine General Hospital Department of Pediatrics on Sept. 10, 2025, Dr. Bernadette J. Madrid urged health professionals and parents to respond with utmost compassion for children who experienced online sexual abuse. 

Based on a study by ChildLight, an independent institute for child safety based at the University of Edinburgh, Dr. Madrid revealed that children themselves have expressed the need for a child-focused approach. They want kindness and understanding, rather than blame, and depending on what was done, the children need support without judgment since many already carry deep feelings of shame. 

Tips for Parents

Dr. Madrid stressed that parents play a critical role in prevention. She outlined practical steps:

• Decide on age-appropriate access. For example, in Australia, children are only allowed social media access at age 16.
• Set household rules. No internet access in bedrooms or bathrooms. Phones should be turned in at night and charged in parents’ rooms.
• Communicate openly. Rules should be discussed with children, not imposed unilaterally.
• Model safe behavior. Parents should demonstrate healthy device use.
• Use parental controls. Tools are commercially available to filter websites and monitor screen time.
• Equip children with knowledge. Teach them about healthy relationships, recognizing grooming, and safe online practices.

She also highlighted resources such as the website https://takeitdown.ncmec.org/ which specializes in removing sexually explicit videos of children from the internet, MakaBata Hotline 1386, eProtectKids portal, and DICT’s reporting channels as vital tools to protect children from online sexual abuse. 

Tech companies also now employ detection tools for child sexual abuse materials. Google, Microsoft, and Meta are among those using systems at both the platform and ISP levels to help remove harmful content.

With all the tools available, why do such images still proliferate on the web? 

Dr. Madrid explained that technology remains reactive. It can only block material that has already been identified, not new content as it emerges. Offenders are increasing, moving into hidden networks, and uploading at such a scale, and investigators are stretched beyond capacity. 

The result, she stressed, is a massive challenge: law enforcement alone cannot keep up. The police are overwhelmed with reports, and investigating millions of cases is simply impossible. 

Despite this, she added that the Philippines also has one of the best laws against online child sexual abuse and exploitation, RA 11930. “It’s a very good law, so long as it gets implemented. That is always the problem, if it gets implemented.”

A Call to Action

Dr. Madrid emphasized that the solution requires a public health approach, addressing the problem at every stage: primordial, which focuses on preventing risks before they emerge; secondary, which involves early detection and intervention; and tertiary, which provides support and rehabilitation after abuse has happened.

“And this is both for victims and for children who may, because of their harmful sexual behavior, need intervention. Even adults, the predators—they also need help. If we want to really deal with this problem and eradicate it, we need to deal with both victims and perpetrators, or children or adults, before they become perpetrators. That’s why prevention is so important,” she added.

To end violence against children, Dr. Madrid recommended a seven evidence-based strategy called the INSPIRE framework: 

• Implementation of laws and policies.
• Norms and values change.
• Safety online.
• Parenting support.
• Income and livelihood assistance.
• Response services including therapy.
• Education on healthy relationships.

“This fight is a fight for the soul of our children,” Dr. Madrid concluded. “And it needs everybody—from frontliners to policymakers, to tech companies, to law enforcement. Every sector must be part of the solution if we are going to succeed.”

Dr. Bernadette J. Madrid currently serves as the Executive Director of the Child Protection Network Foundation, a post she has held for the past twenty-three years. She also recently retired as Head of the UP–PGH Child Protection Unit (CPU), which she led for nearly three decades.

Established in 1997, the UP–PGH CPU was the country’s first one-stop health facility providing coordinated medical, legal, social, and mental health services for abused children and their families. Five years later, Dr. Madrid helped establish the Child Protection Network Foundation, a nationwide non-government organization that, in partnership with government institutions and the private sector, set out to create Women and Child Protection Units (WCPUs) across the Philippines.

Today, the network has grown to 123 WCPUs in 61 provinces and 10 cities, serving more than 120,000 children and adolescents and 30,000 women. Every child protection specialist and staff member in this network has been trained at the UP–PGH CPU, underscoring Dr. Madrid’s legacy of building systems that protect the most vulnerable.

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