Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro said self-regulation in the advertising industry would remain under the proposed amendments to restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution.
Rodriguez made the statement in the wake of concerns aired by stakeholders during the Senate hearing on the amendment proposals last Thursday.
Rodriguez, who chairs the committee on constitutional amendments of the House of Representatives, said under the Charter change resolutions, foreign ownership of advertising companies may be altered by Congress from the present 70 percent Filipino and 30 percent foreign.
“We are focused on the ownership issue. There is no plan to disturb whatever internal arrangement that exists in the ad industry like self-regulation. I will not support any proposal to change that,” he said.
On Thursday, Ad Standards Council legal counsel Rudolph Jularbal said foreign ownership would not be a problem as long as self regulation in the local ad sector remains in place.
He said as long as self-regulation “is functional, regardless of the ownership of advertising agencies, content will be regulated effectively.”
Rodriguez disagreed with another Senate resource person that foreign ownership does not add value to an ad agency.
“The infusion of additional funds to a business organization, whether in the ad industry or any other sector of the economy, always adds value to that entity,” he said.
He said technology transfer is another factor that would enhance the operation of such an entity.
A third would be the availability of foreign human resources or expertise in case it is needed, he said.
Some Senate witnesses also raised concerns about editorial independence and advertisers dictating content.
Rodriguez said editorial independence would be left to the best judgment of ad agencies.
“We will not interfere with editorial judgment,” he said.
As to the content of an advertisement, that matter is left to the discretion of both the advertiser and his ad agency, he said.
