Abante backs MTRCB’s ‘campaign vs. indecency’
A LAWMAKER on Wednesday urged the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) to step up what he referred to as its “campaign versus indecency” as he stressed the importance of ensuring that daytime television shows should be fit for family viewing.
House committee on human rights chairman and Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido M. Abante, Jr. pointed out that the MTRCB’s decision to suspend “It’s Showtime” for 12 airing days “is justified as it sends a very clear and very loud message to television show producers and artists who oftentimes forget that their content is inappropriate for young viewers.”
“The MTRCB has a mandate to protect Filipino audiences against indecency in our airwaves and to protect our children against obscenity. They did the right thing,” Abante said.
Abante lamented that Filipino audiences “are frequently bombarded by lewd, risqué, and racy material on television and online… so much so that I fear that we have become inured to vulgarity in the media.”
“It is so commonplace now that we have become accustomed to double entendre and veiled kabastusan intended to catch the attention of Filipino audiences. Paniniwala ko, sumusobra na. It is time for the government to step in and promote positive values, to protect our families,” he added.
According to Abante, the “Bagong Pilipinas” initiative of the current administration “should incorporate efforts to promote traditional Filipino family values if we want to transform our society for the better.”
“Faith and family values are the foundations of a great nation. We should vigilantly guard against the erosion of these values because if we teach our people to accept minute doses of immorality, they will eventually develop a tolerance to immorality on a grander scale,” explained the legislator.
“Bagong Pilipinas” is the government’s branding and communications strategy, which was launched in July this year. Memorandum Circular No. 24, which institutionalizes the program, states that “Bagong Pilipinas” is the “overarching theme of the government’s brand of governance and leadership, which calls for deep and fundamental transformations in all sectors of society and government.”
