By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

VIOLENCE depicted on television is the main target of some congressmen who are complaining that children are most affected by what they see on TV.

Representatives Narciso Santiago III (party-list representative, Alliance for Rural Concern), Roman Romulo (Lone District, Pasig City) and Mark Llandro L. Mendoza (Fourth District, Batangas) co-authored House Bill 2689 that seeks to penalize broadcast media outlets that show violent behavior on TV.

Under the proposal, called “Children’s Protection from Video Programming,” violators will be fined P200, 000 and have their licenses revoked.

The congressmen argue that researchers are pointing out that children exposed to violent video programming have a higher tendency to engage in violent and aggressive behavior.

“There has been an increase in the number of reported violent acts directed at children and an increase in the amount and severity of violent acts observed by children through the media, including television, movies, computer games, and videotapes directly linked to violent programming,” Santiago said.

He adds that the media should be responsible in serving the public interest and it should be under government regulation to protect children against violent and indecent video programming.

TV shows and movies in the Philippines are all monitored by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, which also rates the shows as general patronage, parental guidance, restricted or X-rated or not for public screening.