- GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) has further strengthened its campaign to promote responsible viewership through “Responsableng Panonood”, amid growing challenges in the digital age.
In an interview in Victorias City Saturday, MTRCB chairperson Lala Sotto said that “Responsableng Panonood” aimed at enlisting the help of parents and supervising adults in ensuring good viewing habits of their children.
Sotto, who leads the MTRCB board members in the nationwide campaign for responsible viewership, said she believes in empowering and equipping the parents and supervising adults, including teachers, for them to know the parental and control of offline apps, such as the Subscription Video Demand Service Providers, and the User Generated Content for services.
The promotion of responsible viewership, according to Sotto, was being made pending deliberation of a proposed bill in the Senate that seeks to amend Presidential Decree 1986 that created MTRCB in 1985, when internet was not existing yet.
Senate Bill 1940 or the MTRCB Act of 2023, sponsored by movie actor turned politician, Robin Padilla, aims to give the MTRCB authority to go after materials that express “national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility, violence, or stereotyping or prejudice against the Filipino people, and includes the regulating content online and on-demand streaming services, such as Netflix.”
Sotto said the proposed law will also enable the MTRCB to come up with a program that will help parents control the viewing habits of their children, with regards to online streaming apps, which may cause disturbances to their minds.
The series of fora on “Responsableng Panonood”, organized by the MTRCB in the cities of Bacolod and Victorias Sept. 15 and 16, were attended by school officials, members of various Parents and Teachers Associations, and local officials.
Sotto said they also established partnerships with Netflix, HBO Go, Primevideo, Disney, and Viva 1 in their campaign for responsible viewership./GB
