MANILA, Philippines - Every time we hear of raids on computer shops dealing with cybersex, we are aghast at the brazenness of those who would deal in it. Because of our techno-illiteracy, our understanding of illegal operations using new technology is limited to piracy of music and DVDs. Our introduction to its other limitless possibilities started in ?Oprah.?

While watching the show one day, our interest and horror was pricked at her episode which featured a young boy of 19 confessing to having had virtual sex through the Internet with thousands of men since he was 13. No one knew about it, not even his mom, although she confessed to being surprised that her son never seemed to run out of money.

Our knowledge of young boys being victimized by pedophiles is limited locally to the Pagsanjan experience where the parents even presented their sons for a few dollars to be earned.

Vanishing pimp

Everything in our knowledge of the sex trade has been on a person-to-person level. Hookers at street corners, prostitutes at bars, illicit sex at massage parlors. The bookings, the payments that go through people or a pimp. But the new aspect of the sex trade has obliterated the middleman and totally new to us of the book-reading generation.

We have female friends who tell us of how they have met foreigners through the Net and the webcam. Some foreigners even went as far as proposing marriage; others came over purportedly for a look-see. We supposed this was better than the mail-order bride arrangement of long ago. Nothing illegal or indecent about it. Until we had a chat with a nephew of ours.

After-office call girl

Chiqui Gil (his real name) is a young man who has been in the talent agency business for five years. He has a modest office in Greenhills with a staff of one regular secretary and one casual office assistant. One day, he tells us, the security guard in his office building commented at the industry of Chiqui?s secretary who has been going home often at 3 a.m. Since the work at the office did not need long hours, he decided to investigate the matter. What he uncovered shocked and stunned him.

Apparently, his industrious secretary was indulging in cybersex during those after-office hours. How did Chiqui find out? Apparently Liza (not her real name) was not too discreet with her negotiations. She left traces that were easily uncovered by Chiqui. She left receipts of dollar payments addressed to her and sent through Western Union.

Of course, that is at best circumstantial evidence. She could have been receiving money for transcription of documents for an online company, or for translation of documents from Visayan to English for that matter.

But that?s not all. Liza was stupid, or careless enough not to cover her tracks. On the computer Chiqui gave her, she put in a folder with the title TXT. One day when she was out, Chiqui needed some information from her, but didn?t know where Liza had stored it. He opened her computer, came across TXT and, thinking it meant a storage of text messages, opened the folder.

There, he found no longer circumstantial evidence but proof of Liza?s engaging in sex on the Internet. She had stored pictures of herself taken by the webcam in various forms of undress. She had also stored correspondence and addresses of her clients.

It was horrifying, says Chiqui. For weeks he couldn?t eat. To this day he has refused to hire another secretary.

?Potential sex partner?

We have reached an era where it is useless to discuss whether prostitution should or should not be legalized. The Net has made all that irrelevant.

Here in the Philippines, we are told that online child pornography is booming without a proper law against cybercrimes. We continuously read of raids in apartments in Metro Manila and in the provinces where cybersex dens have arrested women and children in the act of performing lewd sex acts over the Internet.

Confiscations have been made of various cybersex paraphernalia during raids usually of computer monitors, webcams, sex toys and documents pertaining to cybersex operations. There are also confessions from women who admit to performing before the camera and being paid for it. We are told that more than 200,000 Filipinos?women, men and possibly children?are offering sex via the Internet.

Among 35 countries in Asia, the Philippines has the second largest list of potential sex partners, next only to India. Other Asian countries listed in the website with more than 100,000 potential sex partners are Malaysia, 177,996; Singapore, 126,248; Japan, 112,053; and China, 106,163.

We read in the news that Catanduanes Rep. Joseph Santiago has revealed that the website, www.adultfriendfinder.com, which calls itself ?the world?s largest sex and swinger personals site, where real people meet online for casual sex,? claims to have a list of 212,257 potential online sexual partners from the Philippines.

He said based on the www.adultfriendfinder.com site, ?the Philippines now has the world?s 15th largest list of possible sexual partners on the Internet.?

Who therefore is responsible in this matter? It is difficult to tell. Poverty and ignorance are, of course, the biggest culprits. But what about the easy accessibility of sex through the Internet? Who is policing this aspect, without infringing on the rights of an individual to privacy?

E-mail the author at bibsyfotos@yahoo.com.