City Hall destroys sexy magazines, video karera

SEIZED illegal gambling machines and “pornograpic”  materials were destroyed at the Cebu City Hall grounds yesterday.

Almost 20 issues of  FHM and Cosmopolitan magazine confiscated in past months by the  Cebu City Anti-Indecency Board were ripped up.

Lucelle  Mercado, city administrator and CCAIB head, said the materials were seized from  downtown sidewalk vendors.

Acting Mayor Edgardo Labella used a sledge hammer for a ceremonial blow to dismantle  video karera units.

“We’re destroying these in public to show that violations of law will not be tolerated. We always adhere to the rule of law,” he said.

DVDs  and sex toys like  a device called the “goat’s eye”  were also confiscated in various raids.

Labella and  Mercado   yesterday ripped the pages of the seized magazines.

Mercado  said some magazine articles and graphics   were pornographic, not the entire publication.

Selling “indecent” materials  is prohibited under City Ordinance 1408 which creates the CCAIB, she said.

Mercado warned that the CCAIB is also monitoring at least two radio programs airing  sexually suggestive content

“We hope that this will discourage people who  think of continuing to sell these prohibited items for a living. This has to be stopped. We are continuously monitoring,” she said.

She said some vendors  visited  City Hall asking  to recover the items  but CCAIB refused.

“I told them to cooperate, otherwise we don’t care if they lose money  using this for this  kind of business,” she said.

Senior Supt. Marciano Batiancela, city police chief, said his men  seized at least 1,000 illegal gambling machines throughout the year.

Most of the units were confiscated in barangays Ermita, Pasil, Calamba, Tejero, Duljo Fatima and Mambaling in the south district.

“This is  not something that we’re doing just now, this is continuous. We won’t stop while there are still people operating these illegal machines,” he said.

Eugene Elizalde, chairman of the Police Advisory Coordinating Council, said they only destroyed the motherboard of the gambling machines since environmental regulations require proper displosal of  of  electronic devices like the TV screen used in video karera  units.

If the TV screens still work, they may still be resued for legitimate purposes, he said.

The plywood frames of the video karera machines  can also be dismantled and the wood reused in relocation sites. He said they  will consult with the Movement for a Livable Cebu (MLC) on their disposal.