House urged to probe proliferation of sex videos

In light of Dr. Hayden Kho’s treacherous act of spreading his sex videos with women which he took apparently without the knowledge of his sex partners, two militant woman solons have filed a resolution which seeks the House of Representatives committees on public information, civil service and professional regulation and justice to conduct an immediate inquiry into how the right to privacy can be best protected.

Gabriela party-list Reps. Liza Maza and Luz Ilagan said they filed House Resolution 1184 in the light of the various cases of proliferation of videos of women’s intimate acts with their partners without the victims’ consent and knowledge, the most recent of which is that of the sex video of Kho and actress Katrina Halili.

The two militant lawmakers said 0the Kho-Halili sex video is not the first of its kind, citing other cases such as the the Dumaguete sex scandal, a video which shows three women having sex with their boyfriends on different occasions in a bunkhouse in Dumaguete.

According to the two solons, the women involved in the Dumaguete scandal “were victims of their love for their boyfriends at that time, were completely unaware of the video and the connivance of their male partners and the cameraman taking the video, and that they were made mere commodities in a business venture of merchandising pornographic video.”

“Other celebrated cases of young women who figured in sex videos which hit the headlines of newspapers, television, radio and Internet news were the La Salle Sex Scandal or also known as Secret of Makati, Boarding House Scandal, also known as Cebu Scandal or Bisaya Bang-Bang Scandal,” the two said in their resolution.

“The case of Halili-Hayden video, continues to draw indignant reactions from various sectors with Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. even delivering a privilege speech in the Senate, expressing his condemnation over what he perceived as a betrayal by the doctor, who took advantage of the trust, confidence and emotions of his girlfriend, to get the video and make it available to the public,” the resolution read further.

According to the two lawmakers, a survey of one Web site reveals that the Halili-Hayden sex video has already been visited by more than 85,000 users and its spread will remain unabated unless appropriate measures are done.

In light of all this, the two solons said aside from the inquiry the committees should also come up with recommended measures on how to bring to justice those accountable and ensuring the protection of the right to privacy and the dignity and well-being of the victims.

Meanwhile, a child’s rights advocates group is challenging Malacañang to include other children and women who are also victims of sex scandals aside from Halili.

While the Salinlahi supports the fight of Ms. Katrina Halili, it also wants to remind the Senate, Congress and other government agencies, including Malacañang, to pursue the case of minors who were victimized by an Australian doctor from the World Health Organization just this month.

“We are surprised that even Malacañang issued statement regarding the video scandal, but we never heard its condemnation of the pedophilia of the WHO doctor,” said Alphonse Rivera, spokesman for Salinlahi Alliance for Children’s Concerns.

“This issue deserves equal, if not more, action because for one many minors have been victimized and two, a well-respected health organization is involved.”