A legislative measure entitled, “An Act Requiring All Franchise Holders or Operators of Television Stations and Producers of Television Programs to Broadcast or Present Their Programs With Closed Caption Options” was passed today through the efforts of Senator Grace Poe, the bill’s primary sponsor. Assigned as Republic Act No. 10905, the new law will take effect 15 days after its publication.
In a statement, Senator Poe, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media, mentioned that “One of the objectives of this legislation is to provide our hearing-impaired access to news, entertainment, and information in promoting their welfare.”
“Full realization of the goals of the measure is consistent with the Philippine Government’s commitment when it ratified 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,” the senator added.
Closed captioning is a method of displaying text on a TV, video screen or other visual display to provide additional or interpretative information. It is typically used as a transcription of the audio portion of a program as it occurs, sometimes including descriptions of non-speech elements.
