MANILA, Philippines ? Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim and an anti-pornography group destroyed Friday thousands of pornographic materials as a prelude to today?s observance of International Women?s Day.
Some 10,000 pieces of smut materials like movies, posters, tabloids and even lighters were destroyed to show the mayor?s and the group?s commitment to the protection of Filipino women.
?We want to put a stop to the sale and proliferation of these lewd materials because they poison the minds of the youth. Sexual offenses are on the rise because of these; some (women) even get killed after being raped. This is one way we can avoid this,? Lim said.
A steamroller crushed the digital versatile or video discs (DVDs) at the Manila City Hall quadrangle. Posters and ?Sagad? tabloids were set on fire by Lim and the Philippine Alliance against Pornography that also held a day-long conference at the Villegas Hall.
Station 11 commander Supt. Nelson Yabut said the items were seized from stalls in Quiapo, Blumentritt, Sta. Cruz, and Divisoria as part of a continuing campaign against pornography, in cooperation with City Hall District?s Special Project Unit.
Around 180 students of La Consolacion College, Polytechnic University of the Philippines and De la Salle University attended the PAAP conference on the theme ?Freedom, Technology and the Family.?
Meanwhile, the Quezon City government cited University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) scientists who turned over a hybrid of the gumamela plant named after the ?Grand Old Lady of the Katipunan,? Melchora Aquino.
Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. gave citations, in time for women?s month, to UPLB researchers Drs. Pablito Magdalita and Reynald Pimentel for developing the Tandang Sora variety and other gumamela hybrids.
UPLB resident artist and retired chemistry professor Ederlina Cervantes-Guevara was honored for her paintings of the hibiscus hybrids currently on display in the month-long hibiscus exhibit at the Quezon City Hall.
Hibiscus-rosa senensis is the scientific name of the gumamela.
