The obscenity question

In dismissing the obscenity complaint filed against two Cebuano tabloids, acting Cebu City Prosecutor Ferdinand Collantes cited the landmark ruling of the United States Supreme Court in  Miller vs. California.

He  cited the Miller test, which defines if a publication is pornographic or not based on three grounds: One, whether an “average person applying contemporary standards would find if the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest.”

The second is whether the work describes in a “patently offensive way” sexual conduct defined by law and third, if it lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

These elements of obscenity, Collantes argued, were not present in the two columns published in Cebuano tabloids Sun.Star SuperBalita and Banat News and thus the complaints filed by the Cebu City Anti-Indecency Board (CCAIB) don’t hold water.

Board members naturally didn’t agree.

One of them, a fellow prosecutor, dared ask  Collantes if he would allow his kids to read the risque  columns.

We could only speculate how  Collantes would answer  that.

Being  a responsible parent, he certainly wouldn’t allow his kids to read material  that stirs sexual fantasies.

Collantes ruled in favor of a more liberal appreciation of the naughty columns of “From Junquera with Love” and “Wildflower.”

He went with the argument that vulgarity, like beauty, is in the eye of the reader.

His decision, we’re sure, will not encourage the publications to rub it in by  increasing the heat of the  fiction series.

As members of the Cebu community, the writers, editors  and owners of SuperBalita and Banat, want respect, not just high circulation.

This round was won by the Cebuano tabloids, which have other content in their pages worth praising.

But if they cross the line with impunity, they both know that the pesky CCAIB is there waiting for another chance to pounce.