MANILA, Philippines – Voting 20-0, the Senate unanimously concurred in the ratification of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, which seeks to address the threats posed by crimes via the Internet.

Senate foreign relations committee chair Loren Legarda, sponsor of the Senate Resolution 616, said the agreement “facilitates multilateral cooperation and enhanced collective capability to suppress cybercrime.

The Convention was first signed in Budapest, Hungary on November 23, 2001. The Philippines, through President Rodrigo Duterte, signed the agreement on December 9, 2016.

The Convention, Legarda said, “remains the sole binding international legal mechanism adopted by countries” against the issue of cybercrime. The treaty is also crucial in the country’s fight against child pornography.

“This treaty is very important to protect our people from cybercrime especially since the country is the number one haven for those committing child pornography,” Legarda said in a statement.

“Since cybercrime, by its very nature, is borderless, simultaneous and persistent, cooperation, coordination, and collaboration with other countries is therefore vital,” she said.

A major feature of the Convention is the harmonization of domestic legal procedures of state parties to address the emergence of so-called “safe havens.”

Legarda said the treaty is also meant to supplement existing conventions in order to make cybercriminal investigations and proceedings more effective and collection of electronic evidence more efficient.

Citing UNICEF, Legarda said the Philippines is the number one global source of child pornography and a hub for the livestream sexual-abuse trade. Eight out of every 10 Filipino children are at risk of online sexual abuse or bullying. – Rappler.com