Rep. Rosanna Vergara of Nueva Ecija’s third congressional district said worried parents have trooped to the office of Mayor Julius Cesar Vergara “to ask him to shut down the internet cafes as their children spend what little money they have in internet gaming.”
The city government, however, was unable to heed to such request because the subject businesses are located outside the 200-meter radius prescribed by the Department of Education (DepEd).
“But I understand the plea of these mothers,” Vergara said, adding that internet gaming becomes a cause for children to lose money and skip classes.
“Because it involves gambling and because it is designed by the developers to be addictive,” the legislator said.
Vergara said she knew of mothers whose children were “victimized.” “When they found out, they thought a firm and stern warning and disciplinary action would resolve the problem but turned futile.
The children’s grades have suffered because of their inability to discipline themselves as a result on addiction to internet gaming. The youth’s social behavior has also been adversely affected, she said.
Vergara has pressed for the creation of a board that will review and classify internet contents, similar to what the Movie and Television review and Classification Board ( M T R C B ) does in relation to TV programs and movies.
It’s chairman, she said, should be appointed by the President.
Counter Strike
In her recent privilege speech, Vergara particularly identified the popular Counter Strike Global Off ensive (CSGO), an internet game, as among those from which the children have to be protected.
The board’s principal task, she said, will be to review and classify internet games as the MTRCB does in relation to television programs and movies.
Unlike Candy Crush, League of Legends and other internet games not developed by STEAM, the “skins” or accessories obtained by playing CSGO can actually be converted to real cash. “You can sell your skins for real money on websites like OPSkins, BitSkins, and SKFPay. Or even transact directly with the players,” she said.
This means, according to Vergara, that players win and lose real money like in a casino – hence an internet game evolves into internet gambling.
Filipino children, she said, fall prey to these gaming scams amid class actions and legal suits against VALVE/ STEAM which d e v e l o p e d CSGO in the United States. In 2015, she noted, the developers made close to $2.3-billion “by fooling innocent players, mostly kids by posting a Youtube of themselves playing the game CSGO and winning big money.”
“Over 10 million saw this and they never disclosed that they owned the CSGO website,” she stressed.
Expressing alarm on the accessibility of CSGO STEAM cards, Vergara said: “Players, mostly children, are unaware that this game is now a subject of a federal lawsuit in the United States for scamming the public, parents of children who somehow got hold of their credit card and ran up charges in the thousands of dollars are at a loss over the effect this has on a 10-year old who was innocently playing what he believes is a computer game later on finding he owes CSGO or Steam Corp. $35,000.”
Another flip side of the “double-edged sword” internet, she said was it allowed pedophiles to take advantage of poverty in our country. Incidentally, Vergara, added, there were reports that almost every case of child sexual exploitation originates from the Philippines. Citing a report, Vergara said we are unofficially known as the cybersex center of Asia.
The legislator though underscored the “so many positive aspects” of internet such as shortening the distance between overseas Filipino workers and their families. “With apps like Skype and Facebook, we are able to keep in touch and even see each other on a daily basis without having to pay astronomical fees to telephone companies,” she said.
Vergara wants the Commission on Higher Education to conduct information campaign on the dangers of internet gaming and its harmful effects, especially on the youth. She also vowed to file a bill that will require the DepEd to include in its curriculum a subject that will specifically deal with internet and social media awareness, and for the Department of Information and Communication Technology to exercise its mandate under Republic Act 10844 “to formulate policies and initiatives in coordination with DepEd, CHED and TESDA, to develop and promote ICT in education consistent with the national goals and objectives.”
