MANILA, Philippines -- The sex video scandal involving celebrity doctors Hayden Kho and Vicki Belo and actress Katrina Halili makes the explicit American television series ?Nip/Tuck,? which features the sexual exploits of fictional plastic surgeons in Beverly Hills, tame in comparison.

Filmmaker Jose Javier Reyes quipped: ?It only goes to show that reality can upstage fantasy . . . that the home videos shot by a Filipino cosmetic surgeon can be more outrageous than an American TV show.?

Reyes noted that national issues have been ignored because of the public?s fascination with the scandal. ?Blame the cult of celebrity.?

He said that the more important aspect of violence against women has been glossed over in the media?s coverage of the controversy.

?A man who videotapes his sexual encounters with women is not a man. He?s a pig. He?s a misogynist,? said Reyes.

Although Kho apologized for his actions last week, his victim Halili was not appeased.

?Sorry is not enough,? she told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net).

Ironically, Kho also recorded a sex video with Belo (who broke up with him when she learned of his videos with Halili and other women), Belo?s lawyer Adel Tamano told the Inquirer.

Does Halili see herself joining forces with Belo in her fight against Kho? Halili said that she was not sure where Belo stood, but she felt strongly that ?Dr. Belo and the other women victimized by Hayden should come out, to teach people like Hayden a lesson.?

Tamano told the Inquirer that the existence of the Belo-Kho video put Halili and his client in the same boat.

?Katrina and Vicki are both victims in this issue. If you think about it, Vicki?s trauma is deeper because she had a longer relationship with Hayden,? said Tamano.

Tamano said that Belo was deeply bothered by the scandal. ?She?s unhappy. She?s worried about her family, her two grown children.?

Tamano said that Belo felt for the women in the video. ?She?s saddened by the pain the scandal has caused the women and their family. She felt that way even before the report about her own video was made public.?

Still, Tamano confirmed that Belo was supporting Kho throughout this ordeal and would continue to do so -- as a friend.

?Whether she is helping him financially is not something I would ask . . . But I know that, as a friend, she is supporting him emotionally," he said.

Lolit Solis, Belo?s friend and Kho?s former manager, insisted that Belo was standing by her man.

?She is blinded by love,? Solis told the Inquirer. ?She confided in me that Hayden is the only one that makes her happy.?

Solis confirmed that Belo was due to leave for Europe on Tuesday with children Quark and Cristalle Henares.

In a quick phone call on Sunday, Belo confirmed that she was set to fly abroad and that it would be a welcome respite from the ongoing intrigues.

She also added that she hoped that ?all this would be over soon.?

?It?s their chance to bond as a family,? Solis said of Belo?s trip to Europe. ?I joked with Cristalle that she should prevent her mom from coming home, to keep Vicki away from Hayden.?

Solis didn?t mince words about her former ward. ?When I saw him last week, I told him: ?I know that you?re enjoying all this attention . . . that you?re all over TV and newspapers.?

In response, Kho ?just smiled,? Solis recalled. She said that Kho did not look beleaguered and remorseful when she saw him last week.

?Nagpa-pogi pa siya no?ng araw na ?yon. [He made sure he looked handsome that day.]? Solis said that Kho celebrated his birthday (May 20) with a party ?held in his parents? house, but I?m sure Vicki paid for the catering.?

A friend confirmed that Belo attended Kho?s party. ?Hayden looked happy that night. I saw him drinking wine . . . as if he didn?t have a problem,? said a source.

According to Solis, Kho continues to live the high life, adding that she suspected that Kho was still receiving an allowance from Belo, at least P300,000 a month, and was staying in a new condominium unit, "at the Pacific Place in the Fort.?

?He has been jobless since December last year, when he left the Belo Clinic,? Solis said. ?Where is he getting the money to pay for that condo? How could he afford to pay for a lawyer like Lorna Kapunan? Who is paying for his psychologist??

Kho?s lawyer believes that the public should give her client a break. Kapunan told the Inquirer that ?Kho is also a victim in this scandal.? Every time the video was shown in public, ?Kho is also being violated. He didn?t want his private life to be put out there.?

She emphasized that ?the Hayden in the videos is not the same Hayden now. Those videos were taken two years ago. He has since reformed. He is undergoing treatment?medical, psychological and spiritual.?

She said that Kho sought the help of a psychologist, as well as that of a priest. She also noted that Kho underwent ?drug rehabilitation.?

She pointed out, however, that: ?Sexual deviants need continuous therapy . . . Kho is by no means completely healed. But he has taken the first steps.?

The first step, she said, was that ?Kho admitted the fact that he is sick. That he is a deviant. That he is a pervert.?

She recounted that she accepted this case on the condition that ?Hayden would take responsibility for his actions. And he has admitted his wrongdoing and has apologized to Katrina and the other women he video-taped.?

As an advocate of women?s rights, Kapunan said she was bothered by media?s handling of the issue.

?I think media has become part of the exploitation,? she said.

Every time Halili was made to recount her ordeal in public, the media was perpetuating an act of exploitation, she said. ?When a rape victim is made to talk about her rape, it?s like she?s reliving her rape.?

Media should go beyond the public?s fixation on celebrities and tackle the bigger issue of ?exploitation,? she said. ?What?s our lawmakers? stand on the Magna Carta for Women? Why are our senators involved in this issue? Is this in aid of legislation or in aid of election??

She hastened to add, however, that ?Senator Bong Revilla should be credited for bringing this issue to the people?s attention . . . Now, there?s public outrage.?

She could only hope that all these intrigues would lead to stronger laws to protect women and children from pornographers and cyber sex-criminals.

Still, Kapunan, in an interview with an ABS-CBN program, implied that illegal drugs were involved in the Katrina-Hayden video, ?that Hayden took Ecstasy that was provided by Katrina.?

Raymund Palad, Halili?s lawyer, told the Inquirer: ?Drugs or no drugs, Hayden violated Katrina?s rights.?

Palad also vehemently denied the allegation that Halili supplied the drugs. ?That?s foul. We expected that line of defense, but that only aggravates his crime.?