VARIOUS online apps are highly popular nowadays for expressing oneself, entertainment, providing information, and even selling various products online.
Some of these apps include Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.
But the Chinese-owned app TikTok is now facing a proposed ban in the country.
House Deputy Majority Leader Bienvenido Abante has filed a bill to ban TikTok in the Philippines amid tensions between the Philippines and China.
According to him, this is a preemptive action to protect Filipinos from manipulation and misinformation from China.”
“With the rising tension between China and the Philippines, the government must take positive preemptive action to ensure that we protect our citizens from manipulation and misinformation campaigns using social media,” said Deputy Majority Leader Bienvenido Abante Jr.
But for fellow congressmen like Manila District Rep. Ernix Dionisio, nobody should rush to halt the operations of this online app in the country.
“I think we should not just ban apps just like that without knowing and understanding their connection to the Chinese government as alleged. It’s just suspicions at this point. We need to study it like what they’re doing in America, to find out if there are grounds for us to ban it,” Cong. Ernix Dionisio, Dist. 1 Representative, Manila stated.
Congressman Irwin Tieng, District 5 Representative of Manila, prefers to thoroughly study the proposal especially since TikTok is also a source of income for some Filipinos.
He said that we need to first establish whether TikTok indeed poses a threat to our national security.
“These are businesses, we can’t just abruptly shut them down. As far as I know, many influencers also earn from these apps. If there really is a threat to our national security, I would support it,” Cong. Irwin Tieng, Dist. 5 Representative, Manila stated.
Some Manila congressmen oppose the Divorce Bill
Meanwhile, when it comes to the controversial divorce bill that has passed in the House, Cong. Tieng stated that aside from his personal opposition to divorce, many of those he has spoken to are also not in favor of the proposed law.
“All those I’ve spoken to, from the youth to senior citizens, even my chairmen, they’re not in favor. There are a few, but the majority are against the bill, so I said no,” Tieng added.
“I’m against divorce because the end result would be having fatherless or motherless kids,” Tieng stressed.
Congressman Dionisio believes that it’s better to expand the grounds for annulment rather than to have divorce in the Philippines.
“The problem with annulment is, first, it’s costly, and second, it’s a lengthy process. We need to increase the grounds for validating annulment,” Cong. Ernix Dionisio, Dist. 1 Representative, Manila said.
