FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
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First Regular Session 
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Introduced by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Presidential Decree No. 1986 which created 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. Neither thus Republic Act No. 7925, 
otherwise known as the Public Telecommunications Policy Act, 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 
including an increase in the level of aggressive behavior among children who view it. A report 
dated May 1999 of the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation in the Unites States, reveals that 
there is 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 apparatus equipped with technical 
capability for blocking signals, the bill authorizes the MTRCB and the NTC to jointly prescribe 
mles for transmission.* 
*This bill was originally filed during the Thirteenth Congress, First Regular Session. 


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FOURTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC) 
OF THE PHILIPPINES 
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First Regular Session 
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Introduced by Senator Miriam Deknsor Santiago 
AN ACT 
LIMITING THE EXPOSURE OF CHILDREN TO VIOLENT PROGRAMMING 
ON TELEVISION AND CABLE SYSTEMS 
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives oj’the Philippines in 
Congress assembled. 
SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the “Children’s Media Protection 
Act.” 
SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. - 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. 
SECTION 3. DeBnition of Terms. - For purposes of this Act, the term - 
(A) “Cable Operator” any person or group ofpersons who: 
(1) Provides cable service over a cable system and directly or through one or more 
affiliates owns a significant interest in such cable system; or 
(2) Who otherwise controls or is responsible for, through any arrangement, the 
management and operation of such a cable system. 
(B) “Cable System” means any faculty 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. Such term does not include: 
(1) A facility that serves only to retransmit the television signals of 1 or more 
television broadcast stations; 
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(2) A facility that serves only subscribers in one (1) or more multiple unil 
dwelling under common ownership, control or management, unless such facility or 
facilities use any public right-of-way; 
(3) A facility of a common carrier, except to the extent such facility is used in the 
transmission of video prograniming directly to subscribers; and 
(4) Any facility of any electric utility used solely for operating its electric utility 
system. 
(C) “Programming” includes advertisements but does not include newscasts, news 
interviews, and news documentation. 
(D) “Public telecommunication entity” means 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 cables 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 thirty (30) days from the effectivity of this Act, pass 
rules and regulations prohibiting the broadcast on commercial television and public 
telecommunications entities, including the broadcast by cable operators, from 6:OO A.M. to 1O:OO 
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 held 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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