Philippine congressional probe on sex videos sought

Manila: The proliferation of videos featuring individuals engaged in scandalous acts, only undermine the dignity of Filipino women, female lawmakers said.

Representatives Liza Maza and Luzviminda Ilagan, both of the Gabriela Women's Party, said the scandalous videos featuring Filipinas only create an image that they are easy to come by and are "cheap commodities".

"Such sex videos compromise not only the dignity of the victims but Filipino women in general both locally and at the international level," Maza said as she and Ilagan called on the House of Representatives to conduct an enquiry into the proliferation of lewd videos involving a celebrity plastic surgeon and several women that included an actress and commercial models.

Katrina Halili, an actress who has been consistently adjudged "most sexiest" by a local franchise of an international men's magazine, insisted that the videos were taken without her permission.

Using the scandal as a takeoff point, the female lawmakers sought a congressional enquiry to check "the proliferation of videos of women's intimate acts with their partners without the victim's consent and knowledge is an outright violation of the right to privacy of the said individuals, which is provided for under civil law."

Ilagan said the ease and relatively low cost of producing such videos has turned otherwise private moments between partners into commodities that can be sold just about anywhere.

"This would remain unabated unless appropriate measures are done and as legislators it is our duty to uphold the right to privacy and correspondence except upon lawful order of the court," she said.