Bills vs sale, rent of ‘violent’ video games to minors filed
By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 12:40:00 07/14/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- A bill prohibiting the sale or rental of violent video games to minors has been filed at the House of Representatives.
House Bill 4095, initiated by ARC party-list Representative Narciso Santiago, proposes imprisonment of not more than one year or a fine not exceeding P100,000, or both, for violators.
In filing the bill, Santiago cited recent studies that revealed minors who play violent video games "are more likely to exhibit violent, asocial or aggressive behavior toward others, including other minors."
A violent video game, he said, also depicts "human-on-human violence" in which the player “kills, seriously injures, or otherwise causes serious physical harm to a human or character with substantially human characteristics."
"Taken as a whole, it lacks serious literary, artistic, political and scientific value for minors, and the average person, applying contemporary statewide values, finds it appeals to minors' morbid interest in violence," he said in a statement on Monday.
Those who are into violent video games, Santiago said, experience feelings of aggression, or a reduction of activity in the frontal lobes of the brain that are responsible for controlling behavior.
Calling for the immediate passage of the measure, Santiago said the state has "compelling interests to prevent violent, aggressive, asocial behavior [and] prevent psychological harm to minors who play violent video games, and prevent physical harm to the victims of violent minors, including other minors."
"It is also the responsibility of the state to eliminate any societal factors that may inhibit the psychological and neurological development of the youth and facilitate the health development of the youth into well-meaning productive adults," Santiago said.
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