3 persons in sex video upload case invited for questioning

MANILA, Philippines – The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raided yesterday the office in Bacoor, Cavite of a website that allegedly first uploaded on the Internet the sex videos of cosmetic surgeon Hayden Kho and several women. 

Fidel Lazarte and his sons, Marvin and Jobert, the website’s maintainers and operators, were taken to the NBI for questioning.

The NBI has not yet filed charges against the Lazartes, according to Assistant Regional Director Vicente de Guzman III, Anti-Fraud and Computer Crimes Division chief.

The three are connected with a website called FLESHASIADAILY.COM with office at No. 89 Topaz Street, Zapote Dos, Bacoor, Cavite.

The NBI’s technical surveillance determined the identity of the website and its location here in the Philippines.

Head agent Palmer Mallari, AFCCD executive officer, said Kho’s sex videos seen on YouTube and other porn sites came from FLESHASIADAILY.COM.

Jobert Lazarte admitted to the NBI that they were maintaining the website, but claimed they do not know the identities of persons who send videos to their website since these are only e-mailed to them, he added.

Jobert also denied that they uploaded the sex videos of Kho, but admitted they uploaded the two videos where actress Katrina Halili had danced with Kho.

The website is just a “hobby site,” not a porn site, and that those sending the videos are anonymous, he added.

The NBI is now trying to find out who sent these sex videos to FLESHASIADAILY.COM, and if these were sold or just sent for free.

The NBI is studying the possibility of filing charges of pornography against the Lazartes.

Meanwhile, the Optical Media Board has identified the person responsible for the reproduction and mass release of Kho’s sex videos and his women partners.

OMB officials said the agency is set to file charges against the person “soon.”

However, lawyer Rosendo Meneses, OMB executive director, refused to reveal the name of the person.

“We’re already in the final stages (of preparations) to file a case against the one who distributed the first copies of the videos,” he told The STAR.

Lawyer Cyrus Valenzuela, OMB legal division chief, said the person would be charged for replicating and manufacturing the sex videos in violation of the Optical Media Act.

“We will file the case in Manila because it’s where the first copies were circulated and it’s where the business of this person is located,” he added.

Meneses said the OMB was investigating the issue on the aspect of violation of the anti-piracy laws.

“When we conducted our own investigation, we were after the piracy aspect and not the violation of the rights of those involved, not the morality aspect of the issue,” he said. – Sandy Araneta, Reinir Padua