(CMFR/IFEX) – For airing an episode showing individuals using drugs, a popular television network’s documentary programme was recently suspended by the country’s movie and television review board. In its memorandum dated 15 August 2006, the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) suspended ABS-CBN Network’s documentary programme “The Correspondents” for three consecutive weeks or […]
(CMFR/IFEX) – For airing an episode showing individuals using drugs, a popular television network’s documentary programme was recently suspended by the country’s movie and television review board.
In its memorandum dated 15 August 2006, the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) suspended ABS-CBN Network’s documentary programme “The Correspondents” for three consecutive weeks or three episodes.
The suspension arose from the programme’s 26 June episode entitled, “Ang Pinoy Rasta (The Filipino Rasta),” which featured a young man smoking marijuana in the presence of his father who, in turn, confessed that he smoked marijuana with his son occasionally.
As in many countries, the use and sale of marijuana (cannabis) are illegal in the Philippines.
MTRCB had issued an earlier memorandum, released 10 days after the episode was aired, reprimanding ABS-CBN for projecting through the show “that smoking marijuana is an enjoyable activity . . . sending a strong message that [it’s] okay.”
The earlier memorandum noted that the father had said that smoking marijuana had no ill effects on his health.
Through their counsel, the show’s representatives asserted that the documentary was not about drug use, but about Rastafari, “a Jamaican religious practice adopted by some Filipinos as a way of life.” The network’s representatives said the offending portion had not been done in a manner that showed marijuana smoking as enjoyable.
ABS-CBN’s head of current affairs, Luchi Cruz-Valdez, was quoted by the “Philippine Daily Inquirer” as saying that since the network was practicing self-regulation, the programme’s producers refrained from showing celebrities, who are considered role models, in the controversial scene. Instead, they opted to feature the unknown Rastafarian and his father.
According to Valdez, the episode in question was aired at 1:20 a.m. (local time) and carried the Parental Guidance (PG-13) warning.
The monitoring report filed by MTRCB’s special agents on 3 July, however, asserted that “scenes [depicting] the actual use of prohibited drugs are beyond the PG classification and [therefore are] not fit for television viewing.”
The board pointed out that Presidential Decree No. 1986 (PD 1986) “clearly provides that the board . . . has the power to approve or disapprove, delete objectionable portions . . . which in [its] judgment . . . are objectionable for being immoral, indecent and contrary to law .”
Signed by MTRCB Chair Consoliza Laguardia, the memorandum also noted that PD 1986 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations “prohibit the airing/public showing of scenes that tend to abet the use of prohibited drugs.”
According to the review board’s rule and regulations, materials classified as PG-13 cannot include a “depiction of, or reference to, prohibited drugs or substances and their use.”
The agents emphasised in their report that the board also received complaints from other sources about the episode.
ABS-CBN stopped airing “The Correspondents” on 22 August in adherence with the board’s decision, which they received on 17 August.
However, in an official statement, the network said, “ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs protests the suspension . . . [and] stands by its editorial judgment.”
Valdez said the network had filed a temporary restraining order against the suspension at the Court of Appeals on 18 August.
In other developments, representatives of UNTV 37, Ang Dating Daan (The Old Way) Productions, and Eliseo “Brother Eli” Soriano failed to attend an adjudication hearing set by the MTRCB for 22 August.
The board had earlier suspended Soriano’s two programmes, Ang Dating Daan and Itanong Mo Kay Soriano (“Ask Soriano”), aired on UNTV 37, because of statements he made against Iglesia ni Cristo (the “Church of Christ”), the Arroyo government and the present board.
“After being rated X, a producer can apply for reclassification and his TV material will be reviewed by a different committee,” Laguardia said, explaining the process.
(Based on reports by the Inquirer News Service)
