THIRTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC } 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
1 
Third Regular Session 
1 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The Constitution, Article 11, Section 13 provides: 
The State recognizes the vital role of the youth in nation-building and shall 
protect and promote their physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual, and social well- 
being. It shall inculcate in the youth patriotism and nationalism, and encourage 
their involvement in public and civic affairs. 
Recent studies show that minors who play violent video games are more likely to exhibit 
violent, asocial, or aggressive behavior toward others, including other minors, experience 
feelings of aggression, or experience a reduction of activity in the frontal lobes of the brain, 
which are responsible for controlling behavior. 
Although the video game industry has adopted its own voluntary standards describing 
which games are appropriate for minors, those standards are not adequately enforced. Minors are 
capable of purchasing, and do purchase, violent video games. 
The state has compelling interests to prevent violent, aggressive, and asocial behavior, 
prevent psychological harm to minors who play violent video games, and prevent physical harm 
to the victims of violent minors, including other minors. Likewise, it is the responsibility of the 
state to eliminate any societal factors that may inhibit the psychological and neurological 
development of the youth and facilitate the healthy development of the youth into well-meaning, 
productive adults. 


THIRTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC } 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
1 
Third Regular Session 
1 
Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
AN ACT 
PROHIBITING THE SALE OR RENTAL OF 
VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES TO MINORS 
Be it enacted by Ihe Senate and House ofRepresentatives of the Philippines in Congress 
assem bled 
SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the “Video Game Sale and Rental 
Regulation Act of 2007.” 
SECTION 2. Definitions. - For purposes of this Act, the term 
(A) “Consumer” means an individual purchasing or renting the video game. 
(B) “Minor” means an individual who is less than 18 years of age. 
(C) “Video game” means an object or device that stores recorded data or 
instructions, receives data or instructions generated by anyone who uses it, and, by 
processing the data or instructions, creates an interactive game capable of being played, 
viewed, or experienced on or through a computer, gaming system, console, or other 
technology. 
(D) “Violent video game” means a video game to which all of the following 
descriptions apply: 
(1) It depicts human-on-human violence in which the player kills, 
seriously injures, or otherwise causes serious physical harm to a human or 
character with substantially human characteristics, including, but not limited to, 
depictions of death, dismemberment, amputation, decapitation, maiming, 


disfigurement, mutilation of body parts, or criminal sexual conduct, in a manner 
that is especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel. A depiction of violence is 
especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel if it contains all of the following elements: 
(a) it depicts exceptional pain or suffering on the part of the victim 
and is accompanied by a graphic depiction of the victim's injuries. 
(b) the violence is accomplished in the commission of an act that 
would be punishable as a crime if it were committed in reality. 
(c) the circumstances surrounding the violence indicate that it is 
committed without conscience, pity, or empathy. 
(d) it is accompanied by auditory or other sensory elements that 
serve to enhance the realism of the visual depiction. 
(2) taken as a whole, it lacks serious literary, artistic, political, and 
scientific value for minors, and the average person, applying contemporary 
statewide values, finds it appeals to minors' morbid interest in violence. 
SECTION 3. Prohibition and Penalties. - Except as otherwise provided a person shall 
not sell or rent a violent video game to a minor. A person who violates this Act shall be punished 
by imprisonment for not more than one (1) year or a fine of not more than Php100,000.00, or 
both. 
SECTION 4. Defense. - It is an affirmative defense to a charge under Section 3 that the 
person acted in good faith. Good faith exists if all of the following conditions applied at the time 
the violation of Section 3 occurred: 
(A) The minor showed the person identification that appeared to be valid and that 
contained a photograph and a date of birth purporting to show that the minor was 18 
years of age or older 


(B) The person did not have independent knowledge that the minor was under 18 
years of age. 
(C) That based upon subsections (A) and (B), the person complied with the video 
game ratings established by the entertainment software rating board. 
SECTION 5 .  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 6. Repealing Clause. - All acts, decrees, orders, executive orders, instructions, 
rules and regulations or parts hereof inconsistent with the provisions of this Act is hereby 
repealed or modified accordingly. 
SECTION 7. Eflecectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its 
publication in at least two (2) national newspapers of general circulation. 
Approved, 
CMH 28 May 2007