Press Release
May 27, 2009

Pia: 'Let's take the higher moral ground; let's not watch the video'

There is no need and no point to play the controversial videos of Dr. Hayden Kho at the joint committee hearing of the Senate on sex scandal videos scheduled for tomorrow.

"What do we expect to achieve by actually watching the videos?" asked Senator Pia S. Cayetano, Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Social Justice.

"We already know that the act of videotaping was committed. The existence of the videos and the characters are already established and are of public knowledge, so there's no point in previewing it, even in executive session."

"There must be a balancing of interest. Even assuming that the legislators have something to gain from playing the video, which I doubt, we must take the higher moral ground. As elected national leaders, we must set an example and refrain from previewing it out of a sense of prudence, and more importantly, respect for the women victims," she stressed.

"Our task, which is to legislate, can be done without these 'visual aids.' By playing the videos, we run the risk of further sensationalizing the issue instead of just focusing on the measures needed to prevent incidents like these and to entirely outlaw video voyeurism in all its forms."

Relatedly, Cayetano lauded the decision of the House of Representatives to fast-track the approval of the "Anti-Cyberboso Bill," the counterpart of Senate Bill No. 3267 or the proposed "Anti-Video Voyeurism Act of 2009," which she authored.

She suggested that the Senate prioritize SBN 1100 of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, which has already passed the committee level and can be scheduled for plenary debates anytime soon. Cayetano plans to introduce amendments to further strengthen Santiago's bill, lifting from certain provisions of SBN 3267, as well as from lessons learned from the recent sex scandal issue.

Cayetano has personally refrained from watching the videos and has encouraged her staff and friends to do the same out of respect to the victims and women in general.

She has also appealed to the public to refrain from watching, buying and sharing the controversial sex videos, even as she urged those in possession to voluntarily delete or dispose of said materials, and for people to report to authorities video pirates selling the sex videos.

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