BAGUIO City Councilor Leah Fariñas is condemning all forms of porn in the city.
Fariñas in a resolutions said the resolution originated because of the rising incidence regarding pornography and the other obscenities in the city.
The lady councilor said a recent case selling pornographic DVD’s was recorded in February as well as the closure of a cyber porn call center at Palma Urbano in December.
Fariñas cited the Department of Social Welfare And Development Office Committee On Human Trafficking, Child Pornography and Violence against Women and Children reported 495 cases of violence against women, recorded from January to October 2017 and believes VAWC cases are still increasing with physical abuse on top of the list followed by emotional, economic and sexual abuse.
“Now that the City of Baguio is a character city, it is only proper to condemn and prohibit such practices, especially for our children, the youth and students, pornography and other obscenities does not only pollute the minds of people, but it entices those who get addicted to it, to commit worse crimes, such as sexual harassment, acts of lasciviousness and even rape,” said Fariñas.
Fariñas is also asking the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to deactivate or eradicate porn sites in their systems.
“Pornography is already ingrained and accessible in cellphones, laptops, and computers. It can be addressed by cutting-off or eradicating them entirely from the source, since the NTC is responsible for the supervision, adjudication and control over all telecommunications,” she said.
Councilor Leandro Yangot in a separate move proposed the creation of the Baguio City Anti-Obscenity Council.
“Studies show that minors are not only affected by a very strong sense of curiosity towards sex but they are also easily exposed and misinformed on the subject. Often, minors are unable to resist and protect themselves from the ill effects of obscene materials,” Yangot said.
Yangot added trafficking and retailing of smut pictures and stories, considered as pornographic, still lingers around the city and exposure to smut or obscene materials can jeopardize studies for the youth, work for adults, as well as, relationships and interests in healthy endeavors because its patrons get addicted. In the long run, addiction to obscenity will entail the same difficult recovery process as that of drug convicts.
The Yangot ordinance gives power to the council to recommend legislative and administrative measures as well as to cause the prosecution against perpetrators of anti-obscenity laws on behalf of the City of Baguio relative to the trafficking of obscene materials without interfering with the Constitutional rights. The council aims to safeguard morality and shield the youth from moral corruption and values degradation through the regulation of offensive sexual or obscene materials.
Yangot detailed the meaning of obscene as anything that is indecent or offensive or contrary to good customs or religious beliefs, principles, or doctrines, or tends to corrupt or deprave the human mind, or is calculated to excite impure thoughts or arouse prurient interest, or violates the proprieties of language and human behavior, regardless of the motive of the producer, printer, publisher, writer, importer, seller, distributor or exhibitor.
The material will be banned in mass media means film, print, broadcast, electronic, and outdoor media including, but not limited to, internet, newspapers, tabloids, magazines, newsletters, books, comic books, billboards, calendars, posters, optical discs, magnetic media, future technologies.