Contentious Philippine "Right of Reply" bill has been labelled as a potential "undue intrusion" on media rights by Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines chairperson Leila de Lima, Inquirer.net reported Thursday.

The senate has passed its version, while the house bill is pending. Both bills would require media channels to publish a party's reply when that party is offended by reports or commentaries. The reply have to have the same prominence and media space as the offending story. Failure to comply would see large fines and in one version a jail sentence.

Philippine media began a protest against the bill this week, branding the proposed legislation as an "act of terrorism against the media," and against the constitution, Inquirer.net reported.

De Lima advocated media self-regulation as the correct approach. "I always believe that it should be self-regulation by media, no legislation is needed. Self-regulation is the best tack," De Lima said at a press conference.

The Philippine senate passed its version of the bill last year. House Bill 3306 is awaiting debate in the lower chamber.