SENATOR Robinhood Padilla wants to give more teeth to the National Council for Children’s Television or NCCT to penalize all television programs that display and inculcate bad influence to children, including social media.

During the deliberation on the 2025 budget of the Department of Education, Padilla expressed qualms about the effects of television programs and social media that have been showing movies and short films not suitable for children.

“What we just want to know is if the budget we provided to them (NCCT) is sufficient to give it more teeth, because right now it seems we don’t feel its impact,” Padilla said.

“Maybe next time it will have teeth so we can see that there are really consequences for programs that are harmful and have a negative influence on children,” he added.

The NCCT was created by virtue of Republic Act 8370 passed on July 28, 1997 under the Office of the President and was transferred to the DepEd as attached agency through Executive Order No. 2023 on May 5, 2003.

Its mandate is to develop a comprehensive media plan that initiates, promotes, and supports quality television programs to develop the Filipino child’s critical thinking and communication skills, moral values, and strong sense of national identity.