Two women senators on Wednesday found themselves on opposing sides on the issue of whether senators should watch the sex scandal videos of Dr. Hayden Kho at the joint Senate committee hearing scheduled for Thursday.

Sen. Pia Cayetano said senators should set an example to the public by not watching the videos even in executive session.

“What do we expect to achieve by actually watching the videos?” asked Cayetano, chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Social Justice.

“We already know that the act of videotaping was committed. The existence of the videos and the characters are already established and are of public knowledge, so there’s no point in previewing it, even in executive session.”

Cayetano said senators should take the moral high ground and not watch the videos out of a sense of prudence and respect for the women victims.

“Our task, which is to legislate, can be done without these ‘visual aids.’ By playing the videos, we run the risk of further sensationalizing the issue instead of just focusing on the measures needed to prevent incidents like these and to entirely outlaw video voyeurism in all its forms," she added.

On the other hand, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said members of the committee need to watch the videos to form their own opinion about the issue.

"In rape cases, normally we go into closed door trial when it is the victim herself who is testifying on the actual process of being raped. That should be a valid call for privacy in favor of the so-called victim. It also should be a closed door meeting because the members of the committee will have to watch those videos to be able to form an intelligent opinion," Santiago told reporters.

Santiago said she has a pending bill, Senate Bill No. 1100 or the Anti-Video Voyeurism Act, which was reported to the plenary last year. "I don’t think that anyone is seriously against my bill, so it can easily pass second reading, which is the period of debate, and then we’ll go to voting. I’ll talk to Sen. Miguel Zubiri that at least we can take it up before the break," she said.

Cayetano has appealed to the public to refrain from downloading, watching, sharing or purchasing electronic files and CD copies of the controversial sex videos.

She also urged the media to help focus public attention to proposed solutions seeking to deter and outlaw video voyeurism, and help raise people’s awareness on women’s rights and privacy issues.

In a related development, Speaker Prospero Nograles instructed the House of Representatives Committee on Rules to give top priority to the immediate passage of House Bill 4315, also known as the "Anti Cyber Boso Bill” which would “prohibit and penalize the recording of private act or acts and other violations of the privacy of an individual.”

In a note to Rules Chairman and Majority Leader Arthur Defensor, Nograles said HB 4315 should be immediately included in the calendar of business for plenary sponsorship. The bill, principally authored by Buhay Partylist Reps. Irwin C. Tieng, Rene Velarde and Ma. Carissa O. Coscolluela, is now ready for plenary sponsorship and second reading approval.

“The Anti-Cyber Boso Bill which is being pushed by Buhay Partylist is very timely as we are confronted by this sex scandal contagion. The Hayden Kho sex scandal controversy should serve as a wake up call for Congress to penalize the reckless disregard of one's privacy and for the public to be more responsible and more discerning in their actions,” Nograles said.

HB 4315 aims to penalize even the “mere act of recording or any attempt of recording the private act or acts, including but not limited to sexual act, and other violations of the privacy of an individual which would cause public ridicule, without the consent of the parties, and if there is consent in the recording, there is no assent to its sharing, showing or exhibition to other persons.”

Under the measure, an offender can be punished by imprisonment for not less than six months or more than six years and a fine of P100,000 but not more than P500,000.