Akbayan Youth: Military, police should explain links with Facebook takedown of accounts

 

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Akbayan Youth called for the military and police to explain their links with Facebook's takedown of accounts and pages for coordinated inauthentic behavior on Tuesday. "The military and police have a lot of explaining to do. At a time when China is gaining control over our territory, our power grids and soon our telecommunications system, why is our military distracting itself with fake Facebook accounts to attack youth and students?" Akbayan Youth chairperson Dr. RJ Naguit said. "The report cites that suspicious online activities heightened during the debates on the Anti-Terror Act in 2019. From the looks of it, it seems that our uniformed personnel are more concerned about spreading propaganda against critics rather than protecting the Filipino people," Naguit said. "The House and Senate needs to hold the military and police to account during the budget hearings for 2021. We need to know that not a single centavo of taxpayers' money is being used to endanger the lives of the youth," Naguit said. "We need to know the truth about this network-- why it's built and how it's funded-- to hold the government accountable. If it's part of preparations for Terror Act crackdowns, it's time for the Supreme Court to act and take the Terror Act down," Dr. Naguit said.

Save the Children Philippines urges protection of children against trending online challenges

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Save the Children Philippines has aired concern on the online behavior of digital users posting photos of young girls, including babies, that may put children in danger of online sexual abuse and exploitation through the #dropyourbeautifuldaughterchallenge and related hashtags that have already gained half a million responses.

“We call on parents and guardians to be at the forefront of fulfilling the right of children to be protected from online sexual abuse and exploitation by using social media responsibly and teaching children the proper and safe use of the internet,” said Atty. Alberto Muyot, Chief Executive Officer of Save the Children Philippines.

“Even if the images posted are not sexual in nature and content, there is still a risk that these can be used by online predators for untoward purposes,” said Muyot.

The Philippines is currently the global epicenter of online sexual abuse and exploitation based on the thousands of sexual images of Filipino children found proliferating in digital platforms being used by sexual predators.

In 2017, the Office of Cybercrime of the country’s Department of Justice (DOJ) received 45,645 tip-offs about sexual images of Filipino children from the US-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The NCMEC requires internet service providers (ISPs) and electronic service providers (ESPs) in the US to submit reports of child abuse. The number has since then ballooned to 600,000 last year.

Wilma Banaga, Child Protection Advisor of Save the Children Philippines said that it is important for parents and guardians to be careful about posting images of their children online because we cannot control how such images can be used by others.

“It is advisable that parents respectfully monitor their children’s online activities and to be good role models in using the internet and social media,” said Banaga.


“The long period of quarantine provides parents and guardians more time to educate their children on how they can protect themselves online, which also means that they should also be knowledgeable on the safe use of the internet and social media,” Banaga added.

Save the Children Philippines is part of the consortium implementing the SaferKidsPH program together with the Asia Foundation and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). SaferKidsPH, an Australian Government initiative, is working towards reducing online sexual abuse and exploitation (OSAEC) of children in the Philippines.

SaferKidsPH has lined up recommendations for parents, guardians, and concerned agencies, as well as children and youth, to ensure safety in using the internet. These include never sharing of personal details or sending/ posting sensitive information such as photos, phone number, credit card details, home address, and location of school to anyone met online or at any social networking site.

In addition, by never meeting anyone you first or just “met” online. Parents or guardians must be informed right away as some people may not be who they say they are on social media.

“While we are proud of our children and would love to share beautiful pictures of them, let us be more cautious in joining online challenges that may jeopardize their welfare,” said Muyot.

“It would also help if we increase the safety and privacy setting of our social media accounts, as well as of our children’s, and build a safe digital platform for children where they can learn, have fun and socialize with real friends, neighbors, and family during the lockdown,” he added. 

DOST-SEI scouts for best student-innovations

 

Wazzup Pilipinas!


The Department of Science and Technology – Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI) is again on the look-out for the best student-led innovations that address community problems as it recently announced the opening of the 4th imake.wemake: create. innovate. collaborate. Competition.

The competition, which began in 2017, seeks to unleash the creativity of young Filipinos in innovation using accessible technologies. It also aims to expose students to the whole process of innovation from idea pitching to building and testing actual prototypes.

Innovations should be powered by a microcomputer or microcontroller

“The competition has been effective in improving students’ engineering and technical proficiencies, as well as develop their communication, critical and analytical thinking skills. We believe we can sustain the momentum even though our mobility is limited these days,” said DOST-SEI Director, Dr. Josette Biyo.

As was in the past, the competition has three stages: 1) Call for Proposals and Selection: 2) Technical Training/Workshop and Project Pitching; and 3) Final Project Presentation and Judging.

Teams should be composed of three (3) Grade 11 and/or Grade 12 students and a teacher per school. They may pitch projects addressing any of the following areas: food safety, security, traffic/road congestion, health, education, disaster mitigation, entrepreneurship, agriculture, and environment. An accompanying video not longer than three minutes should also explain the concept.

School teams passing the selection process will be invited to attend a five-day technical training/workshop on basic electronics, programming, troubleshooting, and presentation skills. Qualifiers will also get free kit-of-parts, which will be used to develop their prototype or actual technologies.

“Since we’re on a pandemic, we’re designing the technical training to be purely online. Challenging as it may, we will make sure the online training will just be as effective as face-to-face sessions,” Biyo said.

Teams will be given a build and testing period of three months prior to the final project presentation and judging. The projects will be evaluated by the board of judges based on relevance and potential impact on the community of interest, novelty, viability, and community engagement.

At the end, three winning innovations will receive P100,000 cash prize and the prestigious Youth Innovation Prize each.



Deadline for submission of proposals is on November 6, 2019. Contest mechanics and entry form may be downloaded at Project Proposal Entry Form and Call for Proposals. For details, visit facebook/imake.wemake or email imake.wemake@gmail.com.