Mabalacat City in Pampanga has banned the playing of online game Roblox in all computer shops following the passage of an ordinance by the city council, according to a report by One Balita Central Luzon.
Mabalacat City vice mayor Jun Castro said the ordinance aims to prevent students from being influenced by violence depicted in the gaming platform, the report said.
Castro also called for stronger parental and teacher supervision of students. According to One Balita Central Luzon, he urged closer monitoring of young people following a series of bullying and violence incidents recorded in schools.
Commenting on the ban by the city council, University of the Philippines College of Law professor Oliver Reyes said in a Facebook post that users could challenge government bans on games and platforms.
“If an online game or platform is banned by a State actor, the operators of the game/platform can assert their constitutional right to expression has been inhibited,” Reyes wrote.
He said operators could claim direct injury to establish standing, mount a facial challenge, and choose to assert third-party standing on behalf of their users, citing the White Light case.
“But what if the platforms choose not to sue, or to invoke third party standing? What would be the nature of the right of affected users to sue?” he asked.
Reyes said users of online platforms could argue that blocking inhibits their freedom to express and communicate.
For gamers, however, he raised the question of how Philippine courts would classify playing computer or online games.
“Would PH courts be willing to recognize that playing computer/online games is a form of expression, thus granting them the requisite standing on the basis of direct injury to their fundamental constitutional rights?” he wrote.
“Or is it expressive conduct where the inhibition of expression is merely incidental, and thus warranting a content-neutral review? Or mere conduct?”
The local restriction comes amid a legal challenge to national government agencies’ authority to block online platforms.
Newsbytes.PH reported on Oct.2 that five technology professionals and digital rights advocates had asked the Supreme Court to invalidate the government’s nationwide blocking of Discord and prohibit similar restrictions on websites and social networking platforms.
The petition, filed on October 1 and supported by civic technology movement BetterGov.PH, challenges the September blocking of Discord and the government’s threat to impose a similar restriction on Reddit. It also cites earlier threats by the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) against Roblox.
Named as respondents are Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) secretary Henry Rhoel Aguda, CICC executive director Renato Paraiso, and National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) commissioner Ella Blanca Lopez.
The petitioners argued that neither the NTC’s charter nor the Cybercrime Prevention Act authorizes the officials to block entire online platforms. They also contend that the Discord restriction violated constitutional protections and indiscriminately affected lawful users.
“The State’s noble crusade against cybercrime cannot be used as a blunt instrument to demolish the digital public square,” the petition states.
The DICT and CICC lifted the Discord restriction on September 24 following a meeting with the platform’s executives. The petitioners nevertheless argued that the dispute remains subject to judicial review because similar restrictions could be imposed and withdrawn before courts can act.
They said authorities could pursue narrower measures, including targeted content takedowns, account suspensions, and restrictions on specific URLs.
“While we recognize and fully support the government’s mandate to protect minors and combat cybercrime, the methods employed to realize such a mandate must not trample on the people’s fundamental rights,” the petitioners said in a statement.
