Existing rules that keep certain films and television shows away from younger audiences should serve as the model for how the country handles mature-rated video games, Sen. Bam Aquino said this week, pushing back against calls to prohibit such games entirely.
The senator, who heads the Senate Committees on Basic Education and Science and Technology, weighed in after the Tacloban City school shooting renewed scrutiny over whether violent online games shape the behavior of young people. He argued that pulling games off the market wholesale would do little to address the root causes of youth violence.
“Banning video games in general or as a whole, I don’t think that’s a good solution to our problems,” Aquino said Monday.
He pointed to research that, in his reading, undercuts the assumed connection between gaming and deadly incidents at schools. “Mas maraming studies na ginawa na nagsasabing walang correlation between video games and school shooting,” he said.
In Aquino’s view, games occupy the same cultural space as other forms of art and entertainment and should not be treated as a trigger for violent conduct.
His position diverges from signals out of Malacañang, where officials indicated that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. would entertain measures to curb or outlaw violent titles given worries about their effect on minors. Rather than a sweeping prohibition, Aquino said the government should tighten how age limits on mature content are enforced, mirroring the safeguards already applied to movies and TV.
