Group calls for ‘child-friendly media’ amid Ryzza Mae issue

Ryzza Mae Dizon. INQUIRER file photo

MANILA, Philippines – A child welfare group on Thursday lauded the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board’s move to call attention to alleged “child-insensitive” scenes in television shows “Eat Bulaga” and “The Ryzza Mae Show.”

Akap Bata, in a statement to media said MTRCB’s decision to summon the shows’ producers is a “step towards child friendly media.” They commended the Board’s sensitivity towards children’s welfare.

The MTRCB on Wednesday summoned the shows’ producers TAPE, Inc. and GMA 7 for a mandatory conference in relation to scenes where child actress and host Ryzza Mae Dizon was “ridiculed, humiliated and degraded” and was “exposed to malicious and rude statements.”

However, Akap Bata spokesperson Anna Saplor said there is also a need to review programs and content in print, radio and the internet.

Saplor said the campaign for child-friendly media “is not an overnight battle” but parents and child advocates may help by guiding “children when watching TV, listening to radio, surfing the net and reading books or any published material.”

At the same time, the group criticized the government for allegedly failing in its “strict implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).”

Saplor said being complacent in dealing with corruption is also a form of insensitivity towards the plight of children.

“The children are victims of theft, they stole not only the people’s money but also the children’s future,” Saplor said.

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‘Eat Bulaga,’ ‘The Ryzza Mae Show’ violate ‘dignity of the child’—MTRCB