One of the two reasons Optical Media Board (OMB) Chairman Edu Manzano cited for resigning from his post is for him to devote more time to his personal campaign against child pornography. The other is his decision to consider “other avenues of public service” which, to many, translates into a run for senator in next year’s election.
Edu’s personal advocacy got a major boost last week with the approval on second reading in the House of Representatives of the Anti-Child Pornography bill which Tarlac Rep. Nikki Prieto-Teodoro predicts will easily hurdle the third and final reading next week. Teodoro is chairperson of the House Committee on the Welfare of Children.
House Bill 6440 consolidates other bills filed by 30 other congressmen. With the enactment of this measure into law, Manzano expects the proliferation of child porn materials to abate since specific violations and corresponding penalties are spelled out, and the law enforcement agencies tasked to file the complaints and pursue charges against violators are identified.
It was two years ago when Manzano and his OMB crew noticed an alarmingly significant jump in the number of child porno materials from pirated DVDs that the agency had confiscated in its raids. “It was sickening to see pre-teen children engaged in sexual activities, recorded on camera. The videos showed all kinds of perversion being done on very young girls,” Edu, a father of three, said.
That’s when he decided to do something beyond the scope of the OMB. He established the Anti-Child Abuse and Pornography (ACAP) Foundation. “The content of the videos is not within the ambit of the OMB but that of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board,” Edu explains. “The OMB is an anti-piracy body, and the subject of the materials is not within its mandate.” He points out that private individuals and organizations like ACAP can take action based on the contents, and file appropriate charges as provided for by the soon to be approved Anti Child Pornography bill.
Through the OMB, Manzano has received assistance for the campaign from the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), the Philippine National Police and Bantay Bata. He has also requested the Department of Education for help in disseminating information about the growing menace of child porn, to parents and children.
He acknowledges that it’s an uphill battle, even with the eventual enactment of the bill. Information that the OMB received from the Interpol then establishes that child porno materials are being mass produced and distributed worldwide.
Manzano has had a good run as OMB head. He has set impressive records in the number of raids conducted by the agency, in the process shutting down a good number of plants illegally producing counterfeit optical media materials, and seizing close to P3 billion worth of bootlegged materials and replicating machines. It was because of Manzano’s work at the OMB that the Philippines was removed from the Priority Watch List of the US Trade Representatives and downgraded to the Ordinary Watch List.
His achievements have not gone unnoticed as he was the first to receive the Anti-Crime Enforcer Award in Beijing, China in 2006. And obviously, his countrymen have taken note of his performance at the OMB. Surveys conducted by both Pulse Asia and the Social Weather Stations have consistently placed him on the high end of the list of names being considered for senator. And this, I imagine, is his second reason for filing his resignation from the OMB.
He could have made a go for it in 2007 but he begged off then, citing lack of funds. While political analysts feel that he could have made it, considering his almost daily exposure on national television in his high rating Game Ka Na Ba show on Channel 2, Edu probably feels he is more prepared for next year.
Mas game na siya.
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On August 18, 1973, from his prison cell in Fort Bonifacio, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. wrote a letter to his daughter, Maria Elena or Ballsy, who had turned 18 that day. This letter has been placed on the internet. I am reprinting parts of it to show how deeply the late martyr loved his family.
My dearest Ballsy,
I write you this letter with tears in my eyes and as if steel fingers are crushing my heart because I wanted so much to be with you as you celebrate your legal emancipation. Now that you have come of age, my love, a voice tells me that I am no longer young and suddenly, I feel old.
An old poet gave this advice very long ago: “When you are sad, remember the roses will bloom in December.” I want to send you a bouquet of roses, big red roses from my dreamland garden. Unfortunately for the present, my roses are not in bloom, in fact they have dropped all their petals and only the thorns are left to keep me company. I do think it is fitting to send you a thicket of thorns on this memorable day!
I am very proud of you because you have inherited all the best traits of your mother. You are sensible, responsible, even-tempered and sincere with the least pretenses and affection which vehemently detest in a woman. I am sure like your mother, you will possess that rare brand of silent courage and that combination of fidelity and fortitude that will be the life vest of your man in the tragic moments of his life.
Our future has suddenly become uncertain and our fate unknown. I am even now beginning to doubt whether I’ll ever be able to return to you and the family. Hence, I would like to ask you these special favors.
Love your mother, whose love for you, you will never be able to match. She is not the greatest mother in the world, she is your sincerest friend.
Take care of your younger sisters and brother and lavish them with the love and care I would like to continue giving them but am unable to do so.
Help Noy-noy along and pray hard that he will grow to be a real, responsible man who in later years will protect you all.
You are the model for your three younger sisters. Your responsibility is therefore great. Please endeavor to live up to our highest expectations. Be more tolerant to Pinky, more accessible to Viel, our little genius-princess, and more charitable to Krissy, our baby doll, and make up for my neglect.
I seal this letter with a drop of tear and a prayer in my heart, that somehow, somewhere we shall meet again and I will finally be able to make up for all my lapses, in the kingdom where justice reigns supreme and love is eternal.
I love you, Dad