A senior lawmaker on Thursday called for the resignation of members of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) “for failing to support and uphold our national interest.”
Cagayan de Oro City 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez made the call following MTRCB’s decision to allow the commercial release of the controversial movie Barbie starting July 19.
The film reportedly contains a depiction or reference to China’s expansive nine-dash-line territorial claim over the South China Sea, including parts of the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Rodriguez aired his resignation appeal a day after the seventh-year anniversary of the country’s historic victory in the United Nations-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration, which invalidated Beijing’s assertion of its extended maritime domain.
The court also ruled that some islands in the South China Sea, which are occupied by China belong to the Philippines as they are inside the latter’s EEZ.
“I am dismayed and disappointed by MTRCB’s decision. The inclusion in the movie of China’s illegal nine-dash-line claim is against our national interest, which the board apparently does not appreciate. Those officials should not stay in government any minute longer,” Rodriguez said.
He said the MTRCB members’ vote to allow the commercial showing of the controversial movie “embarrasses and demeans the country and the administration of President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong‘ Marcos Jr. before the international community.”
“I have no doubt that President BBM Jr. supports the July 12, 2016 arbitral ruling. He has repeatedly stated so. We should be the first country and people to assert it and to insist that China complies with it because it was our victory in the international tribunal,” he said.
He added that it is ironic that Vietnam has banned Barbie for its “dubious content, while the MTRCB obviously wants to promote Beijing’s baseless expansive territorial claim in the South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea.”
“The board’s decision is doubly shameful and doubly ironic in the face of yesterday’s [Wednesday] expressions of support by the United States and numerous countries, the latest of which is India, for our 2016 arbitral victory,” Rodriguez stressed.
The MTRCB justified its decision by saying, “The Board believes that, all things considered, it has no basis to ban the film Barbie’as there is no clear nor outright depiction of the ‘nine-dash line’ in the subject of the film.”
Rodriguez said the board’s statement “is an admission that there is a portrayal of China’s claim in the movie, though it was not, to use the agency’s own language, ‘clear nor outright.’”
“A direct or indirect insult is still an insult. If you don’t get that, MTRCB, shame on you!” he said.
“If its Vietnam counterpart has found it offensive, why can’t MTRCB? he asked.
‘Circumspect, judicious, and prudent’
The MTRCB was “circumspect, judicious, and prudent” in its contextual review of the Barbie film, according to House deputy minority leader Rep. Bernadette Herrera who also said the “power to ban any movie, I believe, should be wielded sparingly and as a last resort among the many powers and tools at the disposal of the MTRCB.”
“As a legislator looking at this matter using a policy lens, I can see the MTRCB wielded its authority responsibly. I also take this opportunity to invite the MTRCB and the local movie and television industry to recommend to Congress amendments to the MTRCB charter or have a new law entirely that will address the regulatory issues affecting their sector,” Herrera added.
Herrera also said the legislative proposals could be in the form of a “codified omnibus law or a package of laws touching on the many facets of movie and television production, marketing, working conditions, and financing.”
Herrera said they may recommend more developmental roles for MTRCB and perhaps less regulation.
“I do see the movie and television sectors as over-regulated—a situation that hinders its growth and evolution. I would like to see the establishment of a grant-giving government agency for television and cyberspace,” she said.
“I also believe local governments and the Department of Tourism should be empowered to attract film producers to choose the Philippines as their site for location shoots, enticing them with production grants, Filipino hospitality, and red tape-free regulations. The Philippines should become more competitive in these aspects compared to other countries,” the minority lawmaker suggested.
Rep. Rodriguez calls for resignation of MTRCB board over commercial release of ‘Barbie’ movie
Source: News Paper Radio
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