Senior Police Officer 2 Marifel Leongas Cortez 

Admin / Survivor / Personnel Accounting Information System (PAIS) PNCO and Proof Reader / Editor 

Butuan City Police Office 

Bislig City 

Cyber-crime. Children’s rights. Internet sexual exploitation. Internet gambling. Emergent and high-concept crimes are not traditionally considered to be the purview of the PNP, but there are quite a few members of the force who are bringing the organization into the 21st century.  

That Senior Police Officer 2 Marifel Leongas Cortez is both young and female makes her achievements more remarkable. 

This sent a message to the community at large that cyber sex is illegal and punishable by law, as are sex acts involving minors, whether they be simulated for the camera or not.  

As a mother of two herself, SPO2 Cortez has a special place in her heart for children, which she expresses both on the job and in her community activities.  

A criminal organization calling itself the Poison Sigma Gang was forced to face justice as SPO2 Cortez tracked down several children, some of them as young as 13, who were being initiated into the gang.  

An employment agency, which trafficked several Butuan minors without the consent of their parents, was also brought down.  And, most heart-renderingly, SPO2 Cortez also facilitated the rescue of a young girl who was sexually-abused on a regular basis by her own stepfather.