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Thursday, September 23, 2004
DOJ says no criminal act in sex scandal
By Syril G. Repe
THE Department of Justice (DOJ) in Manila ruled that the taping of the controversial "Dumaguete sex scandal" did not involve any criminal act nor did it violate the penal code.
The DOJ ruling effectively dismissed the resolution of the Dumaguete City prosecutor's panel of investigators headed by Bais City Prosecutor Candelario Gonzales.
The panel had found probable cause of violation of the Revised Penal Code and had filed charges against businessman Jonathan Lim and two other co-accused Noli Banagodos and Nicolas Siloterio allegedly responsible for filming the private sex acts in a Daro bunkhouse in 1999.
Atty. Raymund Mercado, counsel for Lim and the co-accused, submitted the fiscals' resolution for review before the DOJ.
In her five-page ruling, Acting Justice Secretary Merceditas N. Gutierrez who reviewed the resolution said that even assuming that the video taping of the so called "Dumaguete Sex Scandal" was true, it did not violate Article 201 on pornography of the Revised Penal Code.
Gutierrez said the contents of the VCD could be indecent and a graphic exhibition of sexual acts, but Lim, Banagodos and Siloterio could not be prosecuted because "the mere video taping does not constitute public exhibition of indecent shows or literature or public expounding or proclaiming doctrines contrary to public morals."
"It does not appear that it was them who made the offer to sell the same to the public," she said.
The DOJ official said no evidence linked the respondents as authors and showing knowledge on their part in the publication of the VCD.
Gutierrez directed the Dumaguete City Prosecutor's Office to withdraw the information it filed before the Regional Trial Court and to submit a report to DOJ Manila within ten days after receiving the ruling.
Lim had been tagged as the producer of the controversial Dumaguete Sex Scandal and owned the motel type bunkhouse where the sexual acts were video taped.
Among allegedly the first customers were three girls dubbed the "Du Ek Sam Girls" who were videotaped unknowingly while having sex with their male partners.
(September 23, 2004 issue)
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