The Philippine House of Representatives is out to ban “hentai” — which they defined as a “Japanese pornographic cartoon that depicts children in explicit sexual activity”, according to a recent press release. The new bill is designed to penalize persons in possession of “drawings, cartoons, sculptures or paintings depicting children in an explicit sexual activity” by imposing on them “6 to 12 years imprisonment and a fine of not more than P500,000”.
I find this bill as an affront to personal freedom and civil liberties, not because I encourage the production and consumption of animated pornography, but because I see this as the first step of what could snowball into a round of bills and laws designed to limit everything else in our lives — similar to what happened during the Martial Law years.
I also find it an insult to my intelligence — as an enthusiast of Japanese popular culture and a student of Political Science, that these lawmakers did not even bother to find out the correct definition for “hentai” before creating a law banning it. In numerous articles and researches, not just online but in the academe as well, hentai is defined as any pornographic image projected in 2D, which includes portrayals of sex between consenting adults, as well as sex with confirmed minors known as “lolita complex”, which is what these lawmakers are trying to remove from circulation.
Since the lawmakers are against “forms of visual depiction, audio representation and written text or materials that advocate explicit sexual activity with a child”, then shouldn’t they have explicitly banned the possession, sale, and distribution of just “lolicon”-related media, and left the other genres well alone? Also, why the focus on 2D representations of sex, since not a single person was grossly, negatively affected in the creation of the work — unlike say, real porn where the actors may be performing under physical and emotional duress, or under the influence of narcotics, alcohol, and other intoxicants?
Lastly, will the bill encompass other forms of media and entertainment that fall into the bounds of “explicit sexual activity with a child” (who could be anyone under the age of 18) which will include, among other things, US-produced teen shows such as Gossip Girl, Beverly Hills 90210, and many others? Or are they specifically targeting the ones made in Japan? If so then, then it seems like our esteemed lawmakers are simply pandering to our American overlords 
Personally, I find the timing of this entire thing a little too suspect, since election season is just around the corner. Who knows — it could be a cheap trick to garner the sympathy vote of the country’s largely Catholic voting population. It could also be a smokescreen to distract the attention of the voting public from yet another scam involving government funds.
Lastly, call me cynical but I doubt the bill — even if voted into law, will have any teeth. A casual stroll through the streets of Quiapo and Divisoria will net you more hentai videos than you can ever watch in a lifetime, and even more examples of the live-action variety. I hope the lawmakers involved in this bill took a long, hard, realistic look at the extent of what they are trying to achieve, and realize the futility and the wasted taxpayer’s pesos behind it. They really ought to do something useful instead, like lowering taxes and prosecuting corrupt members of their ranks.
JPOP Manila 
There’s always streaming. That’s not “in possession” lol.
And hey, this: “sculptures or paintings”, I won’t be surprise if someone shout “It’s called ART!” :p
Oh well.. majority of the voters next year will be the generation exposed to hentai, so I do not know if this is a good move politically 😉
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GERA NA TO! D=
Philippine Government needs to get a life. Seriously. As if naman may mangayayari, yung ngang pirated DVDs hindi kayang patigilin, ito pa kaya. Bakit kaya hindi na lang nila unahin yung mga mas importateng bagay. Always, pera lang naman habol nila diyan. (>_<)
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……… Kung meh kilos protesta, sama ako dyan! Let them know that all this time, they were all idiots who doesn’t know anything about our world.
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Before they ban hentai, they MUST BAN the tabloids that depict PORNOGRAPHIC MATERIAL. Hentai only uses cartoons but in TABLOIDS they use REAL PORNOGRAPHIC PICTURES!!! GUSTO BA NILA NG GIYERA? 😀
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A Quote from a site.
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Pinas government can outlaw anything and everything they want, including hentai materials. That said, it also outlaws freedom of speech and expression. Instead of educating folks with regards to “hentai” or “ecchi”, they just ban it. Instead of regulating it through censorship and accessible only to those of adult/voting age, they just ban it. Ironically, if Pinas government starts fooling around that could affect the people, they ban people from finding out.
Yes, the bill covers protecting a child which is no different from the US. I’m all for that. Child should be protected from sex offenders at all cost. US even provides an online site for the public called Megan’s Law where listed/registered sex offenders already out of jail that can serve as a warning. But does Pinas have one accessible for the public?
Proposal of the bill alone costs money. Loosing one’s right to reading material, even if it’s hentai, is pretty much loosing one’s own freedom.
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And seriously, Philippine Government are nothing more than a bunch of clowns wearing expensive suits that doesn’t know what they are doing 99% of the time.
http://www.registeredoffenderslist.org/megans-law.htm
Agree that Children should be protected but this Bill also violates one’s Freedom of Speech And Expression in the Philippines. 😛
Someone should also ask them to prove that said characters in the Hentai are underaged.
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I can smell the ningas kugon already.
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WHERE ARE THE STUDIES WHY ARE THERE NO STUDIES? Some people really. Idiots.
I mean Hentai is still a kind of porn that gives a freedom of expression. It’s a sexual outlet. Remove that and crime rates of rape will possiply/surely rise. And for that there are studies. People from our country are just mostly close minded assholes who doesn’t do their research.
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I don’t even understand why some feminist group and the church should play a role in the government, when they know nothing of which they speak of. The same thing happened to the US but apparently there they have studies against such those who try to abolish such thing.
Penn and Teller BULLSHIT: War On Porn
They’ll regret the day that they approved such nonesense.
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quote from the admin of this site:
“exactly! this entire bill seems to be built around the (mistaken) assumption that the easy availability of porn leads to sexual deviation.”
To make it emphasize the government is just like making sound judgement. They never based it to studies if they mean statical records. I would have to say most kids today learn sex from tabloids and some porn vidz from the US.
I just wonder is a 2D animation of girls (even lolita) having such sexy or obscene scenes. Well its between the consumers welfare not in relation to such crimes like rape, etc.
As what uncle ben parker stated to young peter parker “with great power comes great responsibility”. So streaming internet porn is out there. The responsibility is really on the consumers and the parents (if children is involved).
another thing is the sex education that DepED is implying should be done as well. Its really on the governments tactics to make uncle sam feel welcome. But in contradictory pinoys believe they’re the saviors i beg to disagree. To me its better if we are japanese citizens for their government is fair and it really focused on peoples welfare.
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Crunchyroll with Philippines then Sankaku Complex with Philippines and Now this? Catholics and Priests are make me sick. Stupid Pedophiles from the Catholic Church ruining Anime like some Anti-Child Pornography Act and what FAIL. Anime is not real!
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Personally, I do not watch “hentai” cartoons. My question though is may mga empleyado ba na nasa congress na ang anak ay hindi pa nakakanuod ng “hentai”? I doubt it. What if majority ng botante ay nanunuod din ng “hentai” o nakanuod na ng “hentai”? E di wala na silang vote from them either.
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hi there jed! i think that these congresspersons are bucking the trend of going after the youth vote, and instead are angling for the conservative right (in other words, ang mga matanders), which explains their motives for banning “hentai”.
IMO this is a very bad move since a huge percentage of the voting pool in the upcoming elections are individuals who are thirty five years old and below — the individuals most affected by this indiscriminate and uninformed banning of what is essentially a non-issue when it comes to crimes against children, on top of being an affront to civil liberties.
also, when you think about it, the taxpayer pesos spent on this “moro-moro” would’ve been better spent building shelters for abused children or creating better measures against child prostitution.
this lowers my opinion of all the representatives involved in this bill significantly, and i am sure i am not the only one. i have no doubts that many young voters will be not writing their names down at the polls come election time.
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Yup, lets wait na lang nay mga kilay na tataas come election time. No offense to whoever planned on pushing this bill thru but let’s say what will happen next to their careers will not be as good otherwise they should think of other things to do and it better be fast like, what you said, building shelters for abused children or creating better measures against child prostitution.
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comeon!! it’s election time bills are spreading like wildfire!! bill to this bill to that and no research to based on…. it’s just sentors/congress are counting on votes (nag papabango ng pangalan) every election is like this… lts wait for this to happen if it does…..watchout for the one approved it ^_^
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politicians/congressmen always have a one-sided mind.. they say ban this.. ban that.. have they ever succeeded in banning something “illegal”? i guess this question will strongly prove that no matter how politicians/congressmen ban something as they say pornographic, or to some other same extent, they should know first what to prioritize to ban rather than immediately banning things without considering other factors surrounding the matter..
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how are they gonna do that?
hentai are mostly available online (streaming) or as pirated DVDs…only a few would buy originals…
are they gonna punish those who possess originals? it would be very hard to track down people purchasing fakes, much more those who watch online…
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politicians just want to add another perfume to their stinking credibilities. if they are real moral advocates, let them remove their personal stains first before goin’ on somebody else’s.. kaya dati noong bomoto ako si mr. joker arroyo lang ang nilagay kong pangalan sa ballot. siya lang ang sincere and doing his job sa government natin. and to add to that hentai also means “different” and “unusual” sa japanese term. politically incorrect na naman sa paggamit ng salita yang mga hindot na mga buwaya sa congress.
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Fuck Philippine Government!!!!! They want something to manage manage the God damned corruption.
Ban hentai? It only proves that our fucking government doesn’t have anything better to do with their fucking boring life.
It’s not that I rant for the banning. I rant because those idiots in our government have the time to play around with this small and childish stuff like hentai.
Can they just ban all those drug lords, smugglers corrupt officials? If they can do it and are successful in doing it… They can ban hentai and their shit. But until then… save government funds for the right fucking program.
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how are they gonna do that
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Yan ba yung bagong pinagkakaabalahan ng HOR.
Wow talaga naman sa dinami daming batas na kailangan ipasa sa dinami dami ng pwedeng ipatupad sa dinami dami ng bagay na pwede nilang pagkaabalahan yan pa ang napili nilang pakielaman..Haayyy naku talaga naman…
Well it’s no surprise though Snot nose politicians are DUMB as it gets.
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If the politicians are females it makes sense, if many perverts died to deliver this message that was mighty brave of them.
He he couldn’t help with the pun, but seriously its retarded might as well ban touching yourself or being seen in daylight hours. Seems like their using pictorials from random strings of animations to make the whole crate look bad, nice way to ban stuff that’s politics for you.
Reminds me of Harry Potter and a bunch hypocritical Catholic priests.
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Honestly i don’t watch hentai and i’m not interested in such. But, aren’t those people overreacting? They should prioritize more important things first? such as the corruption, hunger and other crisis? I’m a catholic but sometimes I do think that some religious people are overreacting or “nagpapabango” lang. Lalo na yung mga politicians na yan? Puro “papogi” lang yan! Kung i-baban nila yang mga hentai na yan bakit di na nila i-ban lahat ng related sa porn? Lalo na yung mga “live action” talaga. Unfair naman yan masyado sa mga japanese artists. Ang mga pinoy talaga ang daming pinagkakaabalahan na di naman importante inuuna pa nila yan. Bakit mawawala ba ang mahihirap at crimes kung mapatupad ito?
Baka naman nakiki-oo lang at magvovote lang yung iba diyan para di halata na nagbabasa sila….heheh
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that’s true — we have far more important problems to tackle like poverty and crime to afford spending time chasing after cartoon perverts >.>
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Wew…. Lalaki ako pero hindi po ako pabor sa Hentai
Marami pong negatibong epekto ang Hentai, e kung bata pa ang makakita non’, iisipin nyang natural na babuyin ang babae.
Hanggang sa mag-Mature sya… Iisipin nyang laruan lang ang babae. Iiwan nya lang ito, katawan lang ang nais sa huli.
Nakakawala po ng moral ang hentai lalo na kung bata pa ang nakakakita. Pabor po sana ako dahil hindi totoong tao ang gumaganap, pero dito sa amin “10” taong gulang na bata nagsu-Surf sa Net ng “Hentai”. Mahirap pong ma-expose ang kabataan sa ganoong uri ng materyal.
Isipin po sana natin ang kinabukasan ng mga kabataan, “KURAP NA NGA ANG NAKARAANG HENERASYON PERO HAHAYAAN PA BA NATING TAWAGIN TAYONG KURAP?”
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pero dito sa amin “10″ taong gulang na bata nagsu-Surf sa Net ng “Hentai”. Mahirap pong ma-expose ang kabataan sa ganoong uri ng materyal.
watching over children while they use the internet should be the parents’ responsibility, not the governments’. if parents looked after their children the way they should, then there would be no need for the government to police the distribution of adult entertainment to adults.
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Stupidity runs amok in congress.
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Politicians should focus on other stuff, than banning “Hentai”.
THEY SHOULD BAN SEXY IMAGES ON LOCAL NEWSPAPERS. What are they thinking???? XD
They are just performing their corrupt minds in their own way.
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yung nag isang nag-comment na binabaoy ang mga babae: di lang naman ang mga babae ang binabaoy sa hentai, mga lalaki rin pwede
I find that I prefer watching/reading hentai and yaoi instead of the real thing. nobody gets hurt doing it, everybody gets paid and nobody unknowingly gets an STD.
for some reason, I find it disturbing watching real porn 😦
besides, even if they do manage to ban hentai, they don’t know how to enforce it. there are lots of ways to them into the country including online. lots of politicians here are a bunch of a$$hole dinosaurs that should be consigned to the dustbin and forgotten. they’re not doing our country any good.
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