By Jet D. Antolin
SENATE President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada presided over a Finance Subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, September 3, 2024, focusing on the proposed 2025 budgets of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) and the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).
Estrada emphasized the crucial role both agencies play in promoting, supporting, and developing the Philippine film industry, which he believes has proven its international competitiveness in recent years. He specifically inquired about the MTRCB’s progress on establishing a research arm to develop guidelines rooted in Filipino values and to study the MTRCB law in relation to its expanded mandate to include digital media.
MTRCB Chairperson Diorella Maria “Lala” Sotto-Antonio informed Estrada that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) had not approved their P10-million request for research in the 2024 budget. She also clarified that while social media and user-generated content platforms fall outside the MTRCB’s current jurisdiction, the agency has received numerous complaints from the public and parents regarding these platforms.
Sotto-Antonio highlighted the MTRCB’s efforts to address this through its “responsableng manonood” (responsible viewer) campaign, which involves partnerships with online curated content services to discuss security measures and safeguards for parents and parent advocates.
Estrada acknowledged the need for regulatory oversight of digital content and informed Sotto-Antonio that Senator Robinhood Padilla, as chairperson of the Committee on Public Information and Mass Media, is preparing a committee report to amend the MTRCB charter to include digital content, which currently lacks any supervision.
