MANILA, Philippines?President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was so appalled by the sex video scandal involving Dr. Hayden Kho with at least two women that she ordered authorities to intensify the campaign against pornography.

"Definitely,'' Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said when asked in a regular briefing in Malacañang if Arroyo was offended by it. "Any right-thinking Filipino will be offended by this kind of exploitation.''

Remonde could not say if the President saw the video itself. But amid the furor over it, Arroyo ordered the Optical Media Board and other agencies to step up the campaign against pornography in video form.

"President Arroyo, as you know, is both a woman and a mother, and as a mother, she's very concerned and very compassionate over some women who have become victims in this issue,'' he said.

The sex videos of Kho with actress Katrina Halili and other women have been posted on the Internet, prompting calls for the revocation of Kho's license and his prosecution.

At the start of the briefing, Remonde conceded that his staff had been entertained by the video, but later sought to downplay this by saying they viewed it for "educational purposes.''

"If there's anything good that has come out of this Katrina Halili-Hayden Kho video, which was enjoyed even by my staff in the Office of the Press Secretary,'' he said, eliciting chuckles, "it highlighted the need for the regulation of the Internet and cyberspace.''

He said that this was a wake-up call for legislators to draft measures to protect the children and youth for sexual exploitation, and "protect public morals'' in cyberspace.

Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello III said he expected to be asked by the media about it, so he viewed the video for "educational reasons.''

Remonde interjected and chuckled: "I think that's the same reason why my staff viewed it.''

Bello, a former justice secretary, called the video a "desecration of womanhood'' and said that Kho should be charged with the crime of pornography.

"I know I would be asked and I had to see the video itself, and found out that there's desecration of womanhood,'' he said.

Bello also believed that the scandal has been "blown out of proportion'' by the media. "You are going into a very sacred thing like the body of a woman, you should not break the sanctity of the woman?s body. The more you expose it, the more you desecrate the woman,'' he said.

Remonde, however, defended the media for its coverage of the video scandal.

"I've nothing but high respect for the responsibility of Philippine media. I know that there will be excesses committed at times. I know that the media, our media, has its element of self-correction,'' he said.

"If ever much attention or much coverage has been given to this issue, it's only because such a universal and salacious subject as sex is always a very interesting issue. But I agree with Secretary Bello about the sanctity of the feminine form,'' he added.