A disgusting bill in the Philippine senate. - Anti-Obscenity and Pornography act 2008

[Heksagon]

I offer my sympathies, I hope this turns out well.

[anonymous1980]

What has been the response among the media and the public? Is the Philippines a secular state? I share your horror.

Well, so far, the controversy hasn't been widespread (as in it's not frontpage news yet). Only on-line blogs, message boards and a few newspaper articles (so far). It was sneaked in by those sneaky congressman before anyone from the media got wind of it. It ended up in the senate and being pushed by this guy who's planning to run for president in 2010 (no doubt to win some points with the conservatives). We've had obscenity laws before. They've been brought up and challenged again and again but apart from a few raids here and there, they're hardly ever enforced.

I think the fact that Playboy Philippines was just launched here a couple of months ago (in addition to having men's magazines like FHM and Maxim doing extremely well) got the moral guardians of society's (i.e. the Catholic Church) panties in a twist and it was brought up again.

The Philippines is supposed to be a secular state but unfortunately, the separation of Church and State is pretty much just a freakin' suggestion as far as the law is concerned because since majority of the Philippines is Catholic, the Catholic Church pretty much has a lot of political clout. At times, their endorsement or condemnation of certain politicians can win/lose votes and sometimes can greatly the passing/junking of certain laws and bills.

One such bill is the Reproductive Health Bill which has been proposed and junked so many freakin' times already. Abortion is illegal in this country. The bill is for a more aggressive education and access and options to other forms of contraception and family planning and reproductive health (excluding abortion, mind you) especially for poor families (you won't believe the number of kids these dirt poor families have!). But nooo, the Catholic Church says this is a gateway to abortion, it will lead to sexual deviancy, it will lower the morality of young people, etc. etc. All that usual bullshit. They just do it loudly without answering the valid points of the other side.

If the Catholic Church wishes to preach about morality of contraception, that's their prerogative but they've gone to borderline threatening and excommunicating and denying Communion to lawmakers who are sponsoring this bill, calling them baby killing abortionists, etc. It's totally in violation of the seperation of Church and State. It also doesn't help that I remember a priest, during his sermon during Mass, contemplate that he wishes that the Philippines were more of a Theocracy rather than a Democracy. (He's not high-ranking, thank God).

*gets off soapbox*

This post has gone on far longer than I thought it would. I'm gonna go to bed.



Edited By anonymous on 1221589545

[Penelope]

What has been the response among the media and the public? Is the Philippines a secular state? I share your horror.

[anonymous1980]

America isn't the only country with crazy conservatives. The Philippines has it's share too. I don't usually bring up Philippine politics to this board but this one made my blood boil.

A group of idiot congressmen and this idiot senator has put forth an anti-obscenity and pornography bill. You can read it in full here. I'm not going to list down the particulars only that would making "obscene" and "pornographic" materials illegal and punishable by law. But I would like to emphasize a particular section of this bill that makes it super-idiotic than it already is:

SEC. 3. Definition of Terms. -As used in this Act, the following terms shall
mean:
(a) "Obscene" refers to 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 such as, but not limited to:
(1) showing, depicting or describing sexual acts;
(2) showing, depicting or describing human sexual organs or the
(3) showing, depicting or describing completely nude human
(4) describing erotic reactions, feelings or experiences on sexual female breasts; bodies; acts; or
(5) performing live sexual acts of whatever form.

This is pretty much Taliban level. Based on this definition, any produced work on any media that involves sexuality and/or nudity in any way, shape or form can be construed as "obscene" and "pornographic" and can be banned up to and including nude paintings and biology textbooks. Hell, even the Bible can be banned since it DOES contain nudity and sex in it.

So absurdly moronic. If someone organized a rally, I would most definitely join.