FOR depicting a negative image of the Philippines, Senator Robinhood Ferdinand C. Padilla backed the ban being considered by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) disallowing the showing of the film Plane.
Padilla vowed to ensure the controversial movie will not be shown in Philippine cinemas; relying on the MTRCB to strictly enforce the ban.
The MTRCB, in turn, promised Padilla that the Board will not allow the showing in the Philippines of the film.
Padilla disclosed receiving over the weekend the commitment from MTRCB officials led by Chairman Diorella Maria “Lala” Sotto-Antonio when they met at his Senate office last Friday.
“Ang sabi nila sa akin, kinausap po nila ang distributor. At ngayon ang gusto natin masulatan natin ang mismong producer [They told me they have talked to the film’s Philippine distributor. And now we want to write the producers of the film],” Padilla said in an interview over DWIZ.
At the same time, Padilla also thanked Sotto for her promise to call the attention of the film’s Philippine distributor.
In his manifestation last February 15 in the Senate, Padilla said the film showed Jolo being controlled by rebels and with government forces no longer there.
Guidelines
THE lawmaker lamented that the film’s portrayal of the Philippines comes at a time the Philippines is trying to “revive its tourism after the pandemic.”
Voicing concerns over the film’s portrayal of Jolo residents as siding with the terrorists, the Senator observed that “if the producers of the film claim it is fiction, they should not have said the story happened in the Philippines.”
In a separate interview on SMNI last Friday, Padilla reiterated he cannot keep quiet on the matter because he chairs the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media, chiding “critics” who questioned his protests against the film.
“Hindi tayo pwedeng manahimik dito. Ang panawagan ko sa inyo, pagdating sa oras na ang bayan natin ay inaalipusta at minamaliit, huwag natin ipagtanggol ang dayuhang ito. Nasaan ang ating pagiging makabayan pag ganitong oras na ang ating imahe ay minamaliit [I cannot keep quiet. And I call on you not to side with the foreigners when our country is being attacked like this. Where is our sense of nationalism when our image is being attacked?],” he said.
At the same time, Padilla conveyed he also also “wants to give the MTRCB the mandate to issue guidelines where films that may damage the Philippines’s reputation not be shown here.”
Image credits: lionsgate.com/movies/plane
