Poe warns TV stations of penalty if no subtitles in programs

Television networks who will fail to put subtitles in their programs for the benefit of the deaf will be penalized, Senator Grace Poe threatened.

Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public information and mass media, told the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) to adopt a firm policy in implementing the Republic Act (RA) No. 10905 or the Closed Caption Law.

“If they [networks] don’t comply within a reasonable period, we will start fining them,” Poe said at the deliberation of the agency’s 188.3million 2018 proposed budget in the Senate. To recall, Poe was a former MTRCB chair.

RA 10905 lapsed into law in July last year while its implementing rules and regulations (IRR) were promulgated by the MTRCB on Dec. 8, 2016. The law should have taken effect 15 days after the issuance of the IRR, Poe said.

MTRCB Chair Rachel Arenas, however, admitted that only 10 percent of TV networks all over the country have complied since the law was enacted.

“We are waiting for the others and we have reminded them,” Arenas explained.

Poe urged the MTRCB officials to compel networks and give them a deadline to obey the law.

Under RA 10905, non-compliant networks shall be punished by a fine of at least 150,000 to 1100,000.

Poe, the primary author of the law, said giving the deaf and hard of hearing access to television programs fulfills the Philippines’ commitment to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2008, which states that “there should be full accessibility and recognition of the linguistic and cultural identity of persons with disability.”

She said captions would also empower and engage them as part of society.