Published January 20, 2021, 6:14 PM The Department of Justice (DoJ) relayed Wednesday to the House Committee on Welfare of Children that despite the government’s imposition of lockdown last year, there has been “significant” increase in the number of victims rescued from online sexual abuse and exploitation from 2019 to 2020. During the House panel’s initial virtual probe on the increasing cases of online sexual exploitation of children (OSEC), DoJ-Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) deputy executive director Atty. Ma. Yvette Coronel said from 2019 to 2020, there is a comparative increase in the numbers of operations conducted and rescued victims involving OSEC-related crimes. She noted the data is culled from the Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Center (PICACC), which is a partnership between the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the NBI-Anti Human Trafficking Division (AHTRAD).