Anti-tabloid ordinance deals with stereotype, needs change

The ordinance needs a new name, they said.

A mixed panel of academe, media and anti-indecency advocates yesterday agreed that the proposed “Anti-Tabloid Ordinance of 2011” of Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale needed correction.

The title “generalizes that all tabloids in the province” have lewd content, said Aida Sanchez of the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office.

A better title would be “Anti-Pornography Ordinance” or the “Anti-Obscene Publications Ordinance” to be more specific, she said.

The suggestion arose in a forum hosted by the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) Cebu Chapter on the controversial piece of legislation.

Sun.Star Superbalita news editor Roger Vallena said it was “malicious to associate tabloids with obscenity.”

He said the technical definition of tabloid refers to its size as a small-format and compact newspaper.

Dr. Nona Suerte, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences of Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U), agreed that stereotyping should be avoided.

Suerte said her communication students benefit from Cebuano tabloids, which they use in their Cebuano journalism classes.

“I’ve read Banat and Superbalita. There are respectable materials found inside it,” Suerte said in the forum held as part of the celebration of Cebu Press Freedom Week.

The draft ordinance was introduced on Aug. 15 by Magpale, and passed on first reading. It is pending study with the PB committee on laws, which will call a public hearing at a later date. Final approval comes after a second and third reading.

The targets of the proposed tabloid ban, based on the draft, are tabloids whose pictures and other content are considered “immoral,” “vulgar” and “sexually provocative.”

As proposed, violators face a P5,000 fine or jail term of six months to one year with copies of the publication confiscated as evidence.

The Cebu Media Legal Aid (Cemla) has opposed the ordinance as “unconstitutional, unnecessary and dangerous.”

Banat and Superbalita are the subject of criminal complaints filed last month by the Cebu City Anti-Indecency Board (CCAIB), which singled out featurized columns they said used obscene language.

CAIB chairperson Lucelle Mercado, in yesterday’s forum, said it was easy for publications to say they would tone down the contents but that this was no guarantee the material would not return.

She mentioned Banat’s column “Wildflower” and SuperBalita’s “From Junquera with Love.”

When one editor in the forum said his paper had already toned down the content, Mercado held up a recent issue of SuperBalita and called attention to the photo of a topless woman posing with a banana.

Vice Gov. Magpale was represented by her chief of staff, Basiliso Sungcad and lawyer Chad Estella, her consultant on women, family and children affairs.

Also present was Heddha Largo, Gender and Development (GAD) officer of the Provincial Women’s Commission (PWC).

Largo said the PWC had been asking the two Cebuano tabloids since 2008 to tone down their “lewd” content. When no change was made, the PWC passed a resolution urging the Provincial Board to craft an ordinance.

Sungcad said the proposed ordinance is not directed only at tabloids with obscene content, but also other publications, leaflets and tarpaulins.

He agreed that the title should be amended to avoid “misleading” others to think that it only targets tabloids.

On whether radio programs was included, Sungcad said this was just mentioned as a “joke” during a caucus by Provincial Board (PB) Member Julian Daan.

Freeman reporter Rene Borromeo said the campaign shouldn’t single out local dailies but should also include tabloids from Manila.

Other panelists in the forum were Teodie Dumam-ag, dean of College of Arts and Sciences of the University of San Jose Recoletos (USJR), and Earl Bonachita, president of the IBP- Cebu Chapter.