MANILA—A House panel on Wednesday approved an amended substitute bill seeking to strengthen digital content safety and online protection for children.

According to the House Committee on the Welfare of Children, the measure, which substituted 5 bills and a resolution, will also provide penalties for violations and allot funds for the proposal.

Tingog Sinirangan Party-list Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez, the panel chair, said the bill included proposals and counterproposals from stakeholders.

“We have made a lot of progress from a very diverse proposal from our authors to this cohesive and comprehensive bill we have at hand," she said.

Romualdez said the substitute bill truly represents stakeholders' aim to provide a strong online protection policy for minors.

The bill's most important feature is declaring acts inimical to online protection of children, she said, including child sexual exploitation and abuse materials, cyberbullying, cyberstalking, online child trafficking; online impersonation, online grooming, online publication of child terrorist and violent extremism, among others.

Government agencies and organizations — such as the Department of Justice, National Privacy Commission, End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism Ph, and Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) — have proposed provisions to the bill that will be submitted to the House Committee on Appropriations for funding provisions.

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