REVILLA FILES CLOSED CAPTION BILL

To ensure equal access of deaf Filipinos to public information, Senator Bong Revilla today filed a bill that would require all television networks to put closed captions in their news programs.

In his speech during the National Conference on Sustainable Partnership for Deaf Transformation held today (Wednesday, November 12, 2008) at the Ople Hall of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the senator said there is an estimated 4.5 million deaf Filipinos, most of them poor, who have no access to programs that will help them realize their full potentials.

"This is a very sad reality and government makes it worse by turning a blind eye to this fact. This is our biggest hurdle, and we will transcend this if we, the private sector and the government, work together and share in this responsibility," said Revilla, chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media.

Revilla stressed that all Filipinos should have equal rights guaranteed under the Constitution. "One of these rights that particularly elude the deaf is access to information. We must uphold Section 7 of our Constitution that says the right of the people to information on matters of public concern shall be recognized," he explained.

In pushing for an equal access to public information of deaf and hard of hearing Filipinos, Revilla simultaneously filed Senate Bill 2872 that would oblige all franchise holders or operators of television networks or stations and producers of television news programs to have these news programs broadcast with closed caption.

Closed-captioning refers to the method of subtitling television programs by coding statements as vertical interval data signal that are decoded at the receiver and superimposed at the bottom of the television screen.

Under the bill, any owner or operator of television networks or stations and any producer of television news programs who shall violate the requirement shall be punished by a fine of not less than Fifty Thousand Pesos (P50,000.00) but not more than One Hundred Thousand Pesos (P100,000.00), or by imprisonment of not less than six (6) months but not more than one (1) year or both such fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court.

If the offender is a corporation, partnership or association, or any other judicial person, the president, manager, administrator or the person-in-charge of the management of the business shall be liable therefore. In addition, the license or permit to operate the business shall be cancelled.

"The passage of this bill will address the constitutional mandate for the state to recognize the basic right of the people to information on matters of public concern," Revilla pointed out.