Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS.
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. 36°71

Introduced by Rep. Winston “Winnie” Castelo

EXPLANATORY NOTE

First off, this bill has been filed in the last 14" Congress by Representatives
Cinchona Cruz-Gonzales and Emmanuel Joel Villanueva both of whom are from the
CIBAC Party List. The lady congresswoman, Rep. Cinchona Cruz-Gonzales is of course
our present colleague in this 15" Congress.

The intention of this measure is to prescribe television rating codes for children
and to prohibit violent and sexually themed non-educational programming on television
during certain hours. In the case of those apparatuses equipped with technical
capability for blocking signals, the bill authorizes MTRCB and NTC to jointly prescribe
the rules of transmission.

As studies of the American Medical Association show, there are adverse effects
of televised violence on child development or a marked increase in the level of
aggressive behavior among children who view them. This was based on the May 1999
Report of the Hany Frank Guggenheim Foundation in the US where it found that there is
an irrefutable connection between the amount of violence depicted in the television
programs watched by children and increased aggression among them

Inasmuch as P.D. 1986, that created the Movie and Television Review and
Classification Board does not authorize MTRCB to presarbe ratings for violence and
non-educational sexual themes in TV prograriming and rules ‘for signals containing
specifications for blocking violent and sexyally themed non-educational programming in
apparatuses with such technical capability and neither does R.A. 7925 (also known as
the Public Telecommunications Policy A¢t of the Philippines) give subh authority to the
NTC for broadcast operations of public ommunications entities, this proposed measure
intends to address this limitation.

Passage of this bill is henceforth, most soug!

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Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No. 3671

Introduced by Rep. Winston “Winnie” Castelo

LIMITING

AN ACT
EXPOSURE OF CHILDREN TO VIOLENT AND OBSCENE

PROGRAMMING ON TELEVISION AND CABLE SYSTEMS

SECTION 1. Short Title. — This Act shall be known as the “Children’s
Media Protection Act”.

SEC. 2.

Declaration of Policy. - It is the policy of the State to protect the

welfare of children by limiting their exposure to violent and sexually-themed non-
educational programming on television and cable systems.

SEC. 3.
a

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Definition of Terms. — For purposes of this Act, the term:

) “Cable Operator” refers to any person or group of persons who
(a) provides cable service 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” refers to 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, but such
term does not include (a) a facility that serves only to transmit
the television signals of one (1) or more television broadcast
stations; (b) a facility that serves only subscribers in one (1) or
more multiple unit dwelling under common ownership, control
or management, unless such facility or facilities use any public
Tight-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.


(3) “Programming” includes advertisements but does not include
newscasts, news interviews, and news documentation.

(4) “Public telecommunication entity’ refers to any person, firm,
partnership or corporation, government or private, engaged in
the provision of telecommunications services to the public for
compensation.

SEC. 4. Establishment of Television Violence and Non-educational
Sexual Themes Rating Code. ~ The Movie and Television Review 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 and non-educational sexual themes in television programming,
including rules for the transmission by television broadcast systems and cable
systems of signals containing specifications for blocking violent and sexually-
themed non-educational programming.

SEC. 5. Elimination of Violent and Sexually Themed Non-Educational
Programming on Television during Specific 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
:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. inclusive of programming that contains violent and
obscene scenes for children in accordance with the rating code established
pursuant to the preceding paragraph.

SEC. 8. Effectivity Clause. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days
after its publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation

Approved,