'Endless Love' Glamorizes Crime?

"Endless Love," the Korean television series about the romantic love that developed between a man and a woman who treated each other as brother and sister, was a hit in the Philippines. In fact, it has a Filipino remake topbilled by Marian Rivera and Dingdong Dantes and is currently being aired over GMA Network.

Well-entertained viewers may not notice, but from a standpoint "Endless Love" could be glamorizing / glorifying a crime. Based on the Philippines' Family Code, although they are not blood relatives, the romantic relationship between the main characters Johnny and Jenny is incestuous--in other words, a crime.

Here is the plot of the series, (please see Wikipedia.com or other sources for complete details):

Johnny and Jenny grew up together as siblings under the care of their parents Robert and Katherine. Johnny loves his sister very much and is very protective of her... Their lives were discrupted when they found out that there was a case of baby switching in the hospital on the day that Jenny was born. They discovered that Jenny is not their biological daughter and later on, they gave her up to her biological family. Years later, Jenny grew up to be a simple, beautiful, young lady... Johnny, who moved to the US years ago, returned to look for his beloved sister. After many years of separation, the "siblings" reunited, and their romance began.

Yesterday (September 06, 2010), Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago brought forward Senate Bill 1500 or the "Anti-Incest Act." Santiago pointed out that though there are laws prohibiting incestuous relationships (Family Code of the Philippines, Civil Code of the Philippines), there is no clear law that imposes penalties to the offenders.

Santiago said, "There is no law which penalizes incestuous relations between consenting parties 18 year of age and above. This bill criminalizes such sexual relation because they are contrary to public policy and public morals."

Here are the premises in the Family Code of the Philippines, which can be used as basis to establish the romance between Johnny and Jenny as "incestuous."

"Article 37: Marriage between the following is incestuous and void from the beginning, whether the relationship between the parties is legitimate or illegitimate.
Article 38: The following marriages shall be void from the very beginning for reasons of public policy;
(1) Between collateral blood relatives, whether legitimate or illegitimate up to the 4th civil degree;
(2) Between step-parents and step-children;
(3) Between parents-in-law and children-in-law;
(4) Between the adopting parent and the adopted child;
(5) Between the surviving spouse of the adopting parent and the adopted child;
(6) Between the surviving spouse of the adopted child and the adopter;
(7) Between an adopted child and a legitimate child of the adopter;
(8) Between adopted children of the same adopter; and
(9) Between parties where one, with the intention to marry the other, killed that other person’s spouse or his or her own spouse"