Palace to MTRCB: Consider lawmakers’ stand against censoring Netflix

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang on Monday urged the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) to evaluate carefully its plan to censor shows on video streaming platforms such as Netflix.

Although he respects its plan, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the MTRCB should consider comments of lawmakers whose job is to ensure that funds of the agency will be spent wisely.

“Ang aking suggestion lang po, sa panahon ng budget, [MTRCB chair] Ma’am Rachel [Arenas], mukhang mahirap balewalain ang sinasabi ng Kongreso, lalong-lalo na kung ang nagsalita na po ay ang Speaker of the House,” Roque said in an online briefing.

(My suggestion, since it’s the time of budget deliberation, Ma’am Rachel, it’s hard to ignore what Congress is saying, especially if the Speaker of the House already declared his stand on the matter.)

At a Senate hearing last week, MTRCB’s legal affairs division chief Atty. Jonathan Presquito sought to regulate content from platforms like Netflix, iFlix and more which gained more popularity during the lockdowns.

Presquito said it is the mandate of the MTRCB to review content regardless of where it is being shown.

“So, ang aking suggestion po, bagama’t hindi po nanghihimasok ang Presidente, hindi po nagma-micromanage ang ating Presidente, i-consider po ang mga suggestions ng ating mga mambabatas dahil sila naman po ang nagpopondo ng ating mga ahensiya. Katungkulan din nila na masigurado na nagagastos sa tama po ang pondo ng taumbayan.”

(My suggestion is, though the President does not micromanage, let’s consider the suggestions of lawmakers since they will fund our agencies. They have the mandate to ensure where funds of the public are being spent.)

“Our suggestion po, evaluate carefully po lalong-lalo na yung sinabi ni Speaker Alan Cayetano na hindi na kinakailangang gawin ‘yan. But we respect and bow to your discretion,” he went on.

(Our suggestion is to evaluate carefully especially what Speaker Alan Cayetano said that doing this is no longer needed. But we respect and bow to your discretion.)

Cayetano earlier regarded MTRCB’s call to regulate content in streaming platforms as “mind-boggling” and “ridiculous,” questioning the timing of the agency’s proposal. [ac]