Senate targets video voyeurs in sex probe

On the eve of its investigation into the controversial sex videos of embattled celebrity doctor Hayden Kho, senators on Wednesday vowed to pass a new law that will strictly penalize video voyeurs.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the joint Senate committee probe scheduled on Thursday will focus on passing new legislation that will impose heavy penalties on video voyeurs to prevent a repeat of the Hayden Kho sex video scandal.

“We may need a need law to prevent this from happening again. Also, [Kho] said he was given drugs. My question is — was he given drugs in all of the videos? Was it all done while in the influence of drugs? This is the type of question that I would like to ask him,” Enrile told reporters.

Enrile also backed suggestions made by Kho’s lawyer that the hearing be done under executive session to prevent minors from hearing the more prurient details of the sex scandal.

Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. earlier called for a Senate investigation on Kho after accusing the celebrity doctor of making at least 40 videos of his sexual trysts with various women including actress Katrina Halili. Several of the videos have spread virally on the Internet through various file-sharing sites.

Kho has publicly apologized for making the videos but said he was not responsible for putting the videos online.

Kho and Halili have both confirmed that they will attend Thursday’s investigation at the Senate. Dr. Vicky Belo, Kho’s former beau who also confirmed making a sex video with the doctor, will be a no-show in the Senate after flying to Europe Tuesday night.

The National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency said they will conduct separate investigations on the various personalities involved in the scandal for possible violations of existing laws against pornography and illegal drugs. Kho’s mother, Irene, earlier said it was Halili who taught Kho how to use drugs.

The Philippine Medical Association is also conducting an investigation on whether Kho should be stripped of his license for violating ethical standards.

‘Don’t watch sex videos in Senate’

Senator-siblings Pia and Alan Peter Cayetano, meanwhile, urged the Senate to set an example to the public by not watching the videos even in executive session.

“What do we gain by watching it? I believe we need to balance our interests. We have to take the higher moral ground and decide that we will not be a party to this. We will respect women’s right and we will be an example of how we should treat women,” Pia Cayetano said.

She said senators should take the moral high ground and not watch the videos out of a sense of prudence and respect for the women victims.

She also urged the media to help focus public attention to proposed solutions seeking to deter and outlaw video voyeurism, and help raise people’s awareness on women’s rights and privacy issues.

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, meanwhile, said the upper chamber may not need to investigate the issue since she already has a pending, Senate Bill No. 1100 or the Anti-Video Voyeurism Act, that was reported to the plenary last year.

“I don’t think that anyone is seriously against my bill, so it can easily pass second reading, which is the period of debate, and then we’ll go to voting. I’ll talk to Sen. Miguel Zubiri that at least we can take it up before the break,” she said.

Sen. Jamby Madrigal, however, opposed suggestions that the Senate scrap its investigation on the sex video scandal. “I don’t think the Cayetanos represent the sentiment of the Senate. [Alan] Cayetano is just jealous because the investigation did not go to his committee,” she said.

Lawyer Katrina Legarda, meanwhile, said Kho could be charged for violating Republic Act 9262 or the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004. She added, however, that lack of a cyber crime law could be an advantage to those responsible for spreading the sex videos on the Internet.

“The other problems that police and prosecutors face are that criminal laws must be liberally construed in favor of the accused, there is a constitutional presumption of innocence, there is a constitutional prohibition against illegal searches and seizures, there is a constitutional procedure for police investigations,” she said in her online column on www.abs-cbnnews.com.

She said other laws that may apply in the Kho sex video scandal are the Revised Penal Code (which penalizes authors, editors and exhibitors of indecent or immoral film) and Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003.

She added, however, that violators of RA9208 should be proven guilty of trafficking in persons, which means “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.”

ABS-CBN News