Justice starts probe of Halili-Kho sex-video scandal

A huge crowd gathered at the Department of Justice Friday for the hearing of the Katrina Halili-Hayden Kho case, everyone eager to see in person the stars of the most sought-after sex video in town.

During the hearing, lawyer Lorna Kapunan, counsel for Kho, asked the panel of prosecutors headed by Senior State Prosecutor Emilie Fe de los Santos to issue a gag order on both parties, considering that the case is now under preliminary investigation.

“What should be a private offense which should be discussed in the appropriate legal venue is fast becoming a trial by publicity and clouds public perception on the case,” Kapunan told the probe panel.

Kapunan was referring to Hali­li’s scathing comments during media interviews.

According to the lawyer, the Halili camp was not observing “proper legal decorum” as any issue should not be discussed publicly when already filed in the prosecutorial or court level.

Lawyer Raymund Palad, counsel for Halili, questioned Kapunan’s allegations, claiming that their camp has been filing only the appropriate administrative sanctions against Kho and his girlfriend, Dr. Vicky Belo, with the proper government agencies.

The prosecutor thus denied Kapunan’s request for gag order request but gave assurance that the probe panel would monitor the activities of Halili and her counsel.

“We can’t really issue a gag order on private persons [Halili and her counsel]. But we assure we will be strictly monitoring the activities of these persons and will file the necessary complaints against them at the Integrated Bar of the Philippines [IBP] if we see any breach of decorum on their part,” de los Santos said.

The prosecutor further said, “Rest assured that the panel will not base its conclusions on media reports and that it will do its best to get to the bottom of the case through careful sifting of facts and testimony submitted by the parties.”

Kho also submitted his counter-affidavit but its contents would not be made public until the next hearing on June 25, when the other respondents, Dr Mark del Rosario, Princess Mae Velasco and Erik Hohnston Chua, are expected to submit their sworn statements.

The panel also ordered the Halili camp to submit the sworn testimonies of their witnesses.

Belo also submitted her counter-affidavit, after arriving together with her counsel, lawyer Adel Tamano, an hour late, prompting de los Santos to order all parties to appear on time in the next hearing.

Halili has charged Kho, Belo, del Rosario, Chua and Velasco with violation of Section 5 (h) and (i) of the Republic Act 9262, or the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act.

Delay in NBI probe

Lawyer Palmer Mallari, head agent of the National Bureau of Investigation-Anti-Fraud and Computer Crimes Division (NBI-AFCCD), said the bureau has already identified the website where the video was first uploaded but the request for the system log would have to be facilitated through a United States court.

Mallari said the process would take at least three months and would depend if the US court would grant the request.

He said that the request was submitted to the US-based website two weeks ago.

In a separate development, the bureau announced that they issued a subpoena Princess Velasco, requesting her to appear before the NBI to shed light on the matter.

Velasco was mentioned in the sworn affidavit of Erik Johnston Chua as among four people who were present when the videos were taken from Kho’s laptop inside his room. Chua said Belo and Rosario were also present when the video was taken.

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