Cebu City to TV stations: Put sign language inset in news

Television stations broadcasting in Cebu City will soon be required to put insets in their news programs for sign language to benefit hearing-impaired people.

During their last regular session for the year last week, the Cebu City Council approved an ordinance by Councilor Lea Japson mandating the installation of insets for sign language.

“With the ever changing times where communication is very important and to address the need of our differently abled members of the society, a person performing a sign language should be incorporated during the airing of news, whether local or national,” read the ordinance of Japson, who heads the council’s committee on social services.

The ordinance requires TV stations that broadcast their programs in Cebu City to provide an inset showing a person reporting the news through sign language.

Insets should be around three inches in width and four inches in length, with a plain dark-colored back drop and should be situated at the lower right hand side of the television screen.

All TV stations are given a period of 60 days from the passage of the ordinance to comply with the requirements.

“After the said period, a non-compliant TV station will be meted a penalty of P5,000 for every infraction and the same penalty will be imposed until full compliance,” the ordinance stated.

Japson cited Article Nine of the United Nations Convention for Rights of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), which states that state parties should take appropriate measures to ensure PWDs equal access with others to the physical environment, transportation, information and communication technologies and systems.

She also stated that findings of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific showed that PWDs are two to four times more likely to die than the general population when disaster occurs.

“(This is) due to many governments in the region do not incorporate disability perspectives in legal frameworks, policies and action plans for disaster risk reduction, public service announcements are often issued in formats and language that are not accessible by persons with disabilities,” read the report.

Several deaf and PWD groups earlier expressed support for the passage of the ordinance including the Philippine Accessible Deaf Services, Inc., Cebu Gualandi Association of the Deaf, Inc., and the Cebu City Persons With Disability Affairs Office.