Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel (PPAB)

Kabataan Party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel finds Filipinos' frequent visits to pornographic website Pornhub "very alarming", as he said that such online content could mislead the youth when it comes to forming relationships.

Manuel, a member of the militant Makabayan bloc, gave these remarks during the briefing held by the House Committee on Basic Education and Culture on the Department of Education's (DepEd) controversial comprehensive sexuality education (CSE).

During his interpellation of attending DepEd officials at the hearing, Manuel shared a trivia about Filipinos' online behavior.

"Kasi I'm very alarmed no, na well ngayon hindi tayo top one, pero in terms of the usage of Pornhub sa bansa, Mr. Chair, ang Pilipinas, number two siya as of 2023 sa buwan ng December," he said.

(It's because I'm very alarmed, that while we are not top one now, in terms of usage of Pornhub in our country, Mr. Chair, the Philippines is number two as of December 2023.)

"As a youth representative, syempre naalarma tayo na kung ganito pala kalaganap ang paggamit ng pornography or pag-view ng ganung mga tipo ng content sa ating bansa ay pwedeng maging paraan ito para ma-mislead yung ating kabataan sa paano yung tamang pakikipag-relasyon," said the 30-year-old Manuel.

(Of course I'm alarmed because if pornography or the viewing of this type of content is this widespread in our country, then it could result to the youth being misled when it comes to the right way of forming relationships.)

In this regard, he said it would be more advantageous for young Filipinos to have a system of education in place.

"Mas mainam na mayroon tayong systematic na pamamaraan paano talaga maituturo...yung ating mga kabataan, paano sila matuturuan ng tama," Manuel said.

(It would be better for us to have a systemic way of how to really teach...our youth, how they can be taught properly.)

As of August 2024, Pornhub is the 16th-most-visited website in the world and the most-visited adult website. It's a Canadian-owned company.