Senate sat on bills covering sex video cases

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate sat on many bills that would have covered the case of celebrity cosmetic surgeon Hayden Kho whose sex videos with actress Katrina Halili and other women have proliferated on the Internet and in DVDs.

A list of the bills showed that many were filed as early as 2007 after a number of sex scandals victimizing women, including students, had come out.

Sex videos were taken in private rooms with a hidden camera apparently without the knowledge of the women or the partners.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said she had filed Senate Bill 1100 or the “Anti-Video Voyeurism Act” on July 4, 2007 to protect the privacy and dignity of every person.

Sen. Francis Escudero’s committee on justice and human rights already conducted public hearings on the bill and submitted Committee Report No. 65 to the plenary on June 2, 2008.

But the measure is still waiting to be calendared in the Senate plenary session.

Other bills

There are other bills pending approval, particularly those aimed at protecting children.

Senate Bills 2317, 1949, 1756, 1638, 527, 1638 and 26, all titled Anti-Child Pornography Act, were filed separately or jointly by Santiago, Escudero, Senators Manuel Lapid, Jamby Madrigal, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Ramon Revilla Jr., Loren Legarda, Richard Gordon, Manuel Villar Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada.

Santiago, Escudero, and Lapid also filed SB 2357 or the Anti-Image Voyeurism Act of 2008 to penalize photo and video voyeurism.

The other bills are SB 2464 or the Anti-Obscenity and Pornography Act of 2008, which seeks to prohibit and penalize the production, printing, publication, importation, sale, distribution and exhibition of obscene and pornographic materials and the exhibition of live sexual acts, filed by Villar;

SB Nos. 1085 and 450 or the Anti-Obscenity Act of 2007 which proposes to stop the demonstration, performance or exhibition in public of certain sexual acts, and the production, importation, sale or distribution, or public showing or display of pornographic materials, filed separately by Legarda and Estrada;

SB 400 or the Anti Dial-A-Porn Act which seeks to declare unlawful the commercial use of telephones for making indecent or obscene communications, filed by Estrada; and

SB 56 or the Internet Protection Act of 2007 that requires Internet cafes and educational institutions with Internet access to install software technology for blocking Internet websites displaying obscene and violent materials.