MTRCB to reevaluate ‘Plane’ movie after senators’ uproar

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MANILA, Philippines — The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) has committed to reevaluate the US fictional film “Plane” after some senators called the movie out for supposedly tarnishing the image of the Philippines.  

“Although the film is fictional, we still would not want our country to be portrayed in a negative and inaccurate light,” MTRCB chairperson Diorella Sotto-Antonio said in a statement on Thursday. 

The MTRCB, according to her, “will re-evaluate the film in view of the senators’ concerns and will take all necessary measures if found to be, in any way, injurious to the prestige of the Philippines or its people.” 

Action star-turned-senator Robinhood Padilla was the first to express dismay over the Hollywood film during the Senate plenary session on Wednesday.

He said that the Gerard Butler-starrer taints the reputation of the Philippines as it narrates the story of a commercial pilot whose plane crashed in Jolo, Sulu, which is controlled by separatists and militia, and suggested that “Filipino armies weren’t there anymore.” 

Although he admitted to having watched only the trailer of the film, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri echoed the sentiments of Padilla. 

He added that the movie will “push us backwards in our tourism promotions again” as he broached the idea of filing a Senate resolution to call the film out for “[painting] a wrong picture of the Philippines.” 

 Senator and former national police chief Ronald dela Rosa, who said he had watched the movie in full, also said he was “very much disgusted” with how his home province Davao was depicted in the film.

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