FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
SENATE 
Senate Bill No. 24 4 i\~r.;~F.IVI'rll!·~,r ~ 
INTRODUCED BY HON. MANNY VILLAR 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
P.O. 1986 which creates the Movie and Television Review and Classification 
Board (MTRCB) does not authorize it to prescribe ratings for violence in television 
programming and rules for signals containing specifications for blocking violent 
programming in apparatuses with such technical capability. R.A. 7925, also known as 
the Public Telecommunication Policy Act of the Philippines does not give such authority 
to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) for broadcast operations of 
public communications entities. 
On several occasions since 1975, the Journal of the American Medical 
Association has alerted the medical community to the adverse effects of televised 
violence on child development such as an increase in the level of aggressive behavior 
among children who view it. A report dated May 1993 of the Harry Frank Guggenheim 
Foundation in the United States reveals that there is an irrefutable connection between 
the amount of violence depicted in the television programs watched by children and 
increased aggression among them. 
This bill prescribes television violence rating codes for children and prohibits 
violent programming on television during certain hours. For those apparatuses 
equipped with technical capability for blocking signals, the bill authorizes the MTRCB 
and the NTC to jointly prescribe rules for transmission. 
MANNY V LLAR 


FIFTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
First Regular Session 
SENATE 
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INTRODUCED BY HON. MANNY VILLAR 
AN ACT LIMITING EXPOSURE OF CHILDREN TO VIOLENT 
PROGRAMMING ON TELEVISION AND CABLE SYSTEMS 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in 
Congress assembled: 
Section 1. 
Short Title. 
This Act shall be known as the "Children's Media 
Protection Act." 
Section 2. Declaration Policy. It is the policy of the state to protect the welfare of 
children by limiting their exp(!)sure to violent programming on television and cable 
systems. 
Section 3. Definition of Terms. For purposes of this Act: 
Cable Operator - any person or group of persons: 
(a) who provides cable services over a cable system and directly or through 
one or more affiliates owns a significant interest in such cable system, or 
(b) who otherwise controls or is responsible for, through any arrangement the 
management and operation of such a cable system; 
Cable System - any facility consisting of a set of closed transmission paths and 
associated signal generation, reception, and control eqUipment that is designed to 
provide cable service which includes video programming and which is provided to 
multiple subscribers within a community, but such term does not include--
(a) a facility that serves only to retransmit the television signals of 1 or more 
television broadcast stations; 
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(b) a facility that serves only subscribers in 1 or more multiple unit dwellings 
under common ownership control or management, unless such facility or 
facilities uses any P4blic right-of way; 
(c) a facility of a common carrier, except to the extent such facility is used in the 
transmission of video programming directly to subscribers; or 
(d) any facility of any electric utility used solely for operating its electric utility 
system. 
Programming - includes advertisements but does not include newscasts, news 
interviews, and news documentaries. 
Public telecommunications entity - any person, firm, partnership or corporation, 
government or private, engaged in the provision of telecommunications services to the 
public for compensation. 
Section 4. Establishment of Television Violence Rating Code. The Movie and 
Television and Classification Board (MTRCB) and the National Telecommunications 
Commission (NTC) shall, jointly prescribe, in consultation with television broadcasters, 
cable operators, concerned non-government organizations for children, and interested 
individuals from the private sector, rules for rating the level of violence in television 
programming including rules for the transmission by television broadcast systems and 
cable systems of signals containing specifications for blocking violent programming. 
Section 5. 
Elimination of Violent Programming on Television During Certain 
Hours - The MTRCB and the NTC shall, within 30 days from the effectivity of this Act, 
pass rules and regulations prohibiting the broadcast on commercial television ad 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. 
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Section 6. 
Separability Clause. 
If any provision, or part hereof, is invalid or 
unconstitutional the remainder of the law or the provision not otherwise affected shall 
remain valid and subsisting. 
Section 7, 
Repealing Clause. 
Any law, presidential decree, or issuance, 
executive order, letter of instruction, administrative order, rule or regulation contrary to 
or inconsistent with, the provisions of this Act, is hereby repealed, modified or amended 
accordingly. 
Section 8. Effectivity Clause, This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its 
publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation. 
Approved, 
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