Kiddie poster tilt gets ball rolling

CHILDREN from various schools participated in the MTRCB poster-making contest on Friday.

“To empower the Filipino family—each of its members, including the house help—to evaluate and intelligently choose media content,” the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board is set to host its Second Family and Child Summit on Nov. 8, MTRCB chair Eugenio “Toto” Villareal announced on Friday.

Twin norms

The day-long event, to be attended by experts and industry stakeholders, will be held at the GT-Toyota Asian Cultural Center in Diliman, Quezon City. Villareal told the Inquirer that the board continues to help ordinary viewers understand the ratings system, so that “every Juan and Juana” can apply the principles in their own families.

The MTRCB chief added, “Under the twin norms of age-appropriateness and audience-sensitivity, each parent or responsible adult will be able to determine entertainment and information that children should be given access to.”

At the first summit in August 2013, stakeholders urged media to be more responsible in producing shows for young audiences.

More than 1,000 grade schoolers joined the contest. Winners will be announced during the summit in November.

“The summit was very helpful,” Villareal said. “The findings were used in some of our adjudication meetings,” As an example, he referred to  an input from Ma. Lourdes “Honey” Carandang, child psychologist: “She noted that what children see and hear, they just do, until around age 8. Children from ages 9 to under 18 are already seeking role models. We cited this during our hearing with the producers of the program ‘Goin’ Bulilit.’”

The coming summit is the culmination of the board’s 29th anniversary celebration, which kicked off with a poster-making contest for kids on Friday. The contest was held in cooperation with the National Council for Children’s Television (NCCT).

“When we go around on ‘enforcement’ visits, we always mention that the NCCT has promulgated a rule about the ‘safe harbor period’ for children, which is between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. We help [the council] since MTRCB is the one with police powers,” Villareal explained.

Jingle contest

Also part of the anniversary celebration is a jingle-making contest that ends on Oct. 24. According to board member Maloli Espinosa-Supnet, the entries should tackle the “elements” of classification. This means the ratings—G, PG, R-13, or R-18—should be incorporated in the lyrics. She pointed out, “The winning entry will be used as the board’s jingle. Right now, all we have is the (five-note) stinger by Francis Reyes.”

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