Manila at war vs smut

The Manila City government has launched an all-out citywide campaign against pornographic publications, including those passed off as legitimate newspapers and magazines by mixing news with sexually explicit photographs and stories.

Manila Mayor Lito Atienza blamed smut materials for making people consider casual sex as acceptable, which eventually leads to unwanted pregnancies.

"These publications promote the distorted mindset that people are mere commodities to be used for sexual gratification," Atienza pointed out. "Is this the way we want our youth to think?"

The mayor issued the order after representatives of several non-government organizations called on his attention to the proliferation of pornographic materials, copies of which were shown to him.

He said the city government would involve the police, local government agencies and non-government organizations in the anti-smut campaign.

Atienza said the police would conduct the confiscation and arrest, while the city government would work on prosecution. The NGOs would help gather information against people behind the illegal activities.

The mayor ordered Western Police District-Special Operations Group (WPD-SOG) chief Superintendent Ernesto Ibay to confiscate pornographic magazines and newspapers being sold in the country’s capital.

Atienza also said the publishers of the pornographic publications would be tracked down and be made answerable to the illegal acts.

"This will be a sustained campaign. We will go after the peddlers and publishers and we will make sure that they are prosecuted. Apart from being illegal, pornographic publications do not have any social redeeming values and in fact corrupt public minds," Atienza added.