As traditional regulation struggles to keep up with the evolution of digital platforms, Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano said instilling Filipino values is the country’s best long-term defense against harmful online content.
At the Senate briefing for the 2026 budget of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), officials admitted that the agency has no jurisdiction over streaming services like YouTube and Netflix, and instead focuses on awareness campaigns for parents.
“With the widespread use of the internet, the MTRCB’s role in protecting young viewers from indecent content has decreased.”
“With the widespread use of the internet, the MTRCB’s role in protecting young viewers from indecent content has decreased,” Cayetano said.
The veteran legislator stressed that restrictions can only go so far in a fast-changing digital environment.
What is more important, the seasoned lawmaker said, is shaping the judgment of young Filipinos so they can make responsible choices themselves.
“It’s not more of censorship, but more of giving the young people the right ideas and information, and then they can make their own choices later on.”
“It’s not more of censorship, but more of giving the young people the right ideas and information, and then they can make their own choices later on,” the senator stressed.
Cayetano had earlier urged the MTRCB, which he described as “guardian of values” of the youth, to strengthen its role by studying ways to extend oversight to online platforms while also developing a research arm to preserve Filipino values in digital content.
To institutionalize this approach, he is pushing his Filipino Identity in Values Act, which seeks to establish a Commission on Filipino Values and an Inter-Faith Council that will embed values formation, etiquette, and civic responsibility across schools, communities, and government.
“As the nation pursues economic prosperity and modernization, our development must be anchored on our cherished core values,” Cayetano concluded.
