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By Ruben D. Manahan, 4th Reporter
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Thursday formally
summoned three personalities in connection with the complaint filed
by actress Katrina Halili against Hayden Kho in the now celebrated
sex video scandal.
The NBI-Anti-Fraud and Computer Division has
subpoenaed celebrity surgeon Dr. Vicky Belo, Kho and Eric Johnston
Chua, who allegedly uploaded the sex videos for online posting.
“We are still conducting investigation and our
target is to identify the person who uploaded the video,” lawyer
Ricardo de Guzman, NBI-Anti-Fraud chief, told reporters.
The three are expected to appear before the NBI
headquarters today.
De Guzman said Belo has been summoned on report
that the celebrated doctor has the copies of the controversial sex
videos. “We want to know why she has copies of the video and how
she obtained them,” he said.
He said Chua was also invited for questioning
after his name surfaced as the perpetrator the proliferation of the
videos online and in the market. “If they don’t appear, then we
will evaluate our holdings to them and we will study what will be
our next action,” de Guzman stressed.
De Guzman said the bureau may file charges
against Kho for act of violation against women and children and
indecent publication of pornographic materials.
Halili files charges before regulator
On the same day, Halili, accompanied by her
lawyers Raymond Palad and Mamyrlito Tan, filed immorality,
dishonorable and/or unethical conduct charges before the
Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) against Kho, seeking for
the suspension or revocation of his license as a physician.
The complaint cited the Article III, Section 24
of Republic Act 2382, or the Medical Act of 1959, which provides
that a physician could either be reprimanded, suspended, or have his
certificate revoked if he would be found guilty of displaying
immoral or dishonorable conduct.
In a five-page complaint, Halili’s lawyers
asked the PRC to revoke Kho’s license to practice medicine and to
confiscate his professional identification card, saying, “It was
very clear in the said video that respondent was the one fixing and
setting up the hidden camera, without the knowledge and Halili’s
consent.”
Video vendors liable
In a related development, Manila Police
District-Station 3 Chief Romulo Sapitula arrested at least seven
persons selling copies of Kho’s sex-videos shortly before
lunchtime yesterday.
Sapitula said that vendors have been discreetly
selling the supposed Kho-Halili pornographic video for P200 apiece.
The stall owners are facing charges of violation
of Article 201 of the Revised Penal Code, or Immoral Doctrines,
Obscene publications and exhibition and indecent shows.
Hidden cameras
Quezon City Council Majority Floor Leader Ariel
Inton on Thursday ordered the permits and licensing office of the
Quezon City government to check all clinics of Belo Medical Group
for hidden cameras that may have been placed by Kho.
“We have to make sure that no hidden cameras
were placed there by Kho,” said Inton.
“We are doing this to protect the patrons of
Dr. Belo. We are also concerned about Quezon City, because we are
promoting the city as a center of health and wellness and not a city
of sex perverts,” he added.
Inton further said that the city government has
all the power to revoke license of business establishments if found
violating the law and morals.
Anti-voyeurism
For her part, Sen. Pia Cayetano filed Thursday
the “Anti-Video Voyeurism Act of 2009” to curb the proliferation
of the so-called sex-scandal videos.
The measure prohibits and penalizes the
recording, sharing, showing or exhibiting of private acts without
the consent of the persons involved.
The bill penalizes all violators with a prison
term of six months to one year and a fine of up to P500,000. An
alien offender will be subjected to deportation after serving the
prison term and paying the fine.
Cayetano said that victims of video voyeurs
could file charges of mental or emotional anguish, or use the
Revised Penal Code provision, which punishes the exhibition of
indecent or immoral scenes to satisfy the market for lust or
pornography.
Update anti-porn bill
At the news forum at Serye Restaurant in Quezon
City, Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante, chairman of the House committee
on public information, said identifying the appropriate charges
against Kho would not have been so difficult had Revilla, the former
chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass
Media, not sat on the the anti-pornography bill passed by the House
of Representatives last year.
Under House Bill 3307, or the Anti-Obscenity and
Pornography Act, offenders could face one to 12 years imprisonment,
or a fine of P100,000 to P1 million or both, depending on the
court’s decision.
The said bill seeks to prohibit and penalize the
production, printing, publication, importation, sale, distribution
and exhibition of obscene and pornographic materials.
-- With Ira Karen Apanay, Efren L. Danao and Jomar Canlas
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