MANILA, Philippines — The Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media is leading joint hearings on Monday on bills related to public access to information, media regulation, and accountability on social media.
The panel, which is chaired by Sen. Robinhood Padilla, is scheduled to hold discussions with the committees on Civil Service, Government Reorganization and Professional Regulation; Science and Technology; Culture and the Arts; Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, Ways and Means, and Finance on a raft of proposed legislation.
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Among the bills on the agenda are proposals on Freedom of Information, a law whose passage has been long delayed. President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has called on all branches of government to give citizens more access to government information but has yet to certify passage of the bill as urgent.
Also on the agenda are Senate bills to regulate what can be shown on media, including curbs on "immoral doctrines" and "indecent shows" and violence. Senate Bill No. 1502, which is also on the agenda, proposes to prohibit the use of religious, regional or ethnic identifiers like "Muslim" or "Mangyan" or "Tausug" to describe suspects and convicts of crimes.
Senate Bill No. 1289, which is also on the agenda, seeks to require social media and other online platforms to collect proof of identification from their users. The bill, if passed into law, will also require platforms "to identify and authenticate the account owner" in case of legal suits.
Then President Rodrigo Duterte vetoed a version of the SIM Card Registration bill in 2022 because of a provision requiring social media registration. He said then that the proposal might impact the right to privacy.
Watch the Senate hearing on public information and mass media bills from 1:30 p.m. on July 10, 2023