Cebu’s City Anti-Indecency Board (CAIB) should be lauded for its efforts to safeguard the moral standards of the community.
Without the board, outraged parents would just complain but nobody would have the muscle to do anything about girlie bars and strip joints near schools or residential areas.
At least there’s a local government body with the zeal to go after entertainment places that exploit women and minors, who are made to perform for money.
At the behest of the CAIB, headed by the City Administrator, Councilor Leah Japson has sponsored an amendment to the anti-indecency ordinance that would give the board more force behind its mandate.
A crude change in the ordinance, however, dares suggest that the CAIB be allowed to inspect any store at any time of day or night without a court order.
It seems that Japson and CAIB want to wipe out from news stands, book stores and other public displays, all publications which contain what they deem as obscene material.
In their haste to do that, the amended version even lumps suspected newspapers and magazines in the same category as sex toys.
Zeal shouldn’t replace a healthy respect for the rule of law.
The City Council will hear strong objections to the amended ordinance in the public hearing on October 8.
The first volley will come from mainstream media outlets in Cebu, who spot the potential for abuse and dangerous tendencies of censorship.
Are those who oppose the CAIB’s desire for wider power also opposing indecency and obscenity?
Not at all.
Giving CAIB the powers to conduct searches and seizures without a court warrant is dangerous. The board cannot be both judge and executioner.
Only the court can determine what is indecent and obscene. That’s not a limited opinion, its repeated in a well established series of Supreme Court decisions.
The intention behind reinforcing the CAIB may be good, but even good intentions can’t violate constitutional rights to due process.
Instead of introducing draconian measures, the city government could give CAIB more resources to conduct proper surveillance against indecency, including a legal team to examine material and apply for a warrant in court to make sure evidence sticks, when they legally confiscate pornographic material.
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