Broadcast for kids

First let me greet the DAILY STAR prime mover, Ninfa Leonardia on her great day today. She knows what I refer to but I have no authority or clearance to say what it is precisely. She will surely keep silent as she usually does on this day, but even on this day her devotion to the DAILY STAR remains as strong as ever. Duty precedeth all things.

Every second Sunday of December has been designated by law for all radio and television stations to devote time for the broadcast of programs that cater to children. But the day passed and we noticed nothing to have changed in the usual programming of the stations.

The usual blood and guts, vampires and blood suckers, incessant crying and sobbing in radio and television series and the scantily clad women prancing on stage and beaches, the political bombasts, the all-cure food supplements that claim no therapeutic remedy remain in the airwaves and the tube without regard for their audiences and listeners.

Nothing is heard about children and programs suitable for them except in the Knowledge Channel and a few programs that do not help develop in children the values of respect, discipline and good manners.

Republic Act No. 8296 authored by former Negros Third District Congressman Carlos “Kako” Lacson in 1997 has been forgotten and its provisions never got to be implemented that could have already had impact in the life styles of our children.

Filed in 1995 as House Bill 150, by Kako Lacson (who is running in the 3rd district to regain his seat in Congress) the law implemented the international agreement of 1990 on the Rights of the Child. Lacson’s Explanatory Note reiterated the sentiments of international convention that recognized “the child’s rights to express views, freedom of expression, freedom of thought and religion and information and to be able to participate in matters affecting his or her own life.”

In implementing this agreement, the United Nations received the commitments of the broadcast media all over the world to set aside a day to focus on children.

The international network, CNN and BBC had in fact been broadcasting since last week the plight of children in areas of armed conflict and other places where child abuse is rampant. This includes child prostitution, slavery and child labor in hazardous situations, children recruited and armed to take part in the army and rebel groups and child trafficking.

Nothing is done here on this day although there are programs that once focused on street children but those days are gone and what we get are programs of children masquerading or impersonating as adults and doing and speaking of stupid and crazy things as if they are adults just for the laughs of it.

The law became known as “National Children’s Broadcasting Day” and mandated that on this day “television and radio stations nationwide shall allocate a minimum of three (3) hours airtime for programs exclusively for, on, or about children and produced especially in observance” of this day.

To insure that the time allotted is not relegated to the wee hours of the morning or at sleeping time, the law provided that “at least one (1) hour shall be prime time.”

The program, RA 8296 declared, should not just be anything about children, rather they “should be child-friendly, promote positive values, and enable children to exercise their rights to freedom of thought and expression as stated in the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child. The participation of children as talents or guest should be encouraged.”

Of course there are programs on television particularly that feature children but not in the manner that is intended by the Lacson law. We find children imitating adults in fashion shows or in inane situations that do not inculcate positive values, just the pleasure of the audiences. These programs create negative and even despicable values but then, who’s checking them?

The Movie and Television Classification and Review Board is supposed to monitor and even disapprove them but the fact that we see these kinds of programs quite frequently simply means that the MTCRB has a different guidelines that do not jibe with the provisions and intent of the Lacson Law.

RA 8296, however, does not mandate the stations except to allot the time. The responsibility in implementing the law on “heads of government agencies and instrumentalities, government-owned and controlled corporations, local government units, employers in the private sector and the Kapisanan ng mga Broadkasters ng Pilipinas (KBP)” who “shall encourage and allow sufficient time and opportunities for their employees to engage, and participate in any ceremony or activity within the premises of their offices or establishments “to celebrate this day.

The law can only attain its objectives if parents insist that it be complied with.*

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