IN MANILA

POLITICS in the Philippines sometimes resembles the television soap operas that Filipinos love to watch.

And a Senate inquiry into a torrid sex-video scandal involving a handsome celebrity doctor and a young actress had plenty of moments of high drama when the hearing was broadcast live on television late last week.

Lawmakers and concerned groups hope it will spur Congress to strengthen legislation against pornography and on the exploitation of women and children.

Bills to do this are already in the pipeline, though moving slowly.

The fuss is over videos that cosmetic surgeon Dr Hayden Kho’s took of his sizzling trysts with 23-year-old starlet Katrina Halili. These surfaced on the Internet and were then produced as DVDs, selling for 50 pesos (S$1.50) each in street markets.

Local media interest in the case has been insatiable, with coverage at times eclipsing news on the economic crisis and the spread of swine-flu.

Dr Kho, 29, has admitted video-taping lovemaking sessions with Ms Halili and several other women, but says that he doesn't know how they ended up on the Internet.

The steamy episode came to light after actor-turned-politician Senator Ramon "Bong" Revilla made a speech denouncing Dr Kho in the Upper House on May 19.

The following day another senator filed a proposed Anti-Video Voyeurism Act that would make it illegal to film intimate acts without the partner's consent.

Commenting on the case this week, Philippine Interior Secretary Ronald Puno told foreign correspondents in Manila: "It is being sensationalised, but it is also calling attention to the insidious effects of misusing technology."

He makes a good point: The spread of cybersex dens using minors, for one, is being viewed with rising concern by the authorities here.

Father Shay Cullen, an Irish missionary who has spent over 20 years in the Philippines trying to save children from the sex industry, told me that the scandal underscored the need for Congress to pass pending legislation clamping down harder on child pornography by making its possession a criminal offence. I was surprised that it wasn't already.

The Philippine Star said in an editorial: "With the scandal over Hayden Kho's sex video, perhaps lawmakers will speed up action on those bills."

Despite its serious intent, parts of the Senate hearing were pure armchair melodrama.

With his designer stubble, the trendily dressed Dr Kho looked like he had just come from a casting session for the TV drama Nip/Tuck.

One onlooker angrily emptied a bottle of water over his head.

"Everytime we saw each other, there was no conversation," Dr Kho told the Senate."It was all drugs and sex."

He claimed that his former patient and now ex-lover introduced him to Ecstasy pills — an allegation strongly denied by a tearful Ms Halili.

"I am the victim here while our video is being viewed on a daily basis," she said.

For me, she had guts for publicly filing a complaint with authorities against Dr Kho. Many others in her situation would have probably kept a low profile.