Protektahan ang mga bata sa mararahas na panoorin

NAKAAALARMA na ang mga karahasang napapanood sa telebisyon at mga cable TV station na nakikita pa mismo maging ng mga bata.

Dahil dito ay isinusulong ni Senator Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada ang Senate Bill 1633 (Children’s Media Protection Act).

Aniya, “Presidential Decree No. 1986, which creates the Movie and the Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), does not authorize the MTRCB to prescribe ratings for violence in television programming and to promulgate rules for signals containing specifications for blocking violent programming in apparatuses with such technical capability. Neither does Republic Act No. 7925, also known as the Public Telecommunications Policy Act of the Philippines, provide such measures for broadcast operations of public communication entities.”

Pinansin niya ang ulat ng American Medical Association hinggil sa “adverse effects of televised violence on child development, including an increase in the level of aggressive behavior among children who view it,” gayundin ng United States Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation hinggil sa “irrefutable connection between the amount of violence depicted in the television program watched      by children and increased aggression among them.”

Alinsunod sa panukala ni Jinggoy:

a) It is the policy of the state to protect the welfare of children by limiting their exposure to violent programming on television and cable systems.

b) The MTRCB and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) shall, jointly prescribed, in consultation with television broadcasters, cable operators, concerned non-government organizations for children and interested individuals from the private sector, rules for the transmission by television broadcast systems and cable systems of signals containing specifications for blocking violent programming.

c) The MTRCB and the NTC shall pass rules and regulations prohibiting the broadcast on commercial television and public telecommunications entities including the broadcast by cable operators, from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. inclusive of programming that contains very violent scenes for children in accordance with the rating code established pursuant to the preceding paragraph.