MTRCB chair Lala Sotto unfazed by detractors and calls for resignation

What a week it has been for the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), especially for its chairperson Lala Sotto. She has been hounded online since the start of the government agency’s issue with the noontime show It’s Showtime.

Since the July 25 episode of the live noontime TV program, specifying the show’s Isip Bata segment, where there was an “icing incident” that put off the board of the MTRCB, Lala has received so much backlash from It’s Showtime fans and netizens who are calling for her resignation.

They also sent her threats that the MTRCB forwarded to the press last Sept. 14, of which MTRCB vice chairman Njel de Mesa said, “Over the past weeks, we have experienced an unfortunate surge in threatening messages on our official social media pages, including explicit rape and death threats directed at chairperson Lala Sotto.

“Chairperson Lala Sotto is a dedicated public servant who has spent her career advocating for responsible and inclusive media content. She has consistently championed the importance of media content that respects cultural sensitivities while contributing positively to the Philippine entertainment industry.”

Lala was very much touched by the gesture of her colleagues.

She said, “I was very much surprised that the committee and the agency have been also looking out for me.”

Her colleague, MTRCB executive director II and lawyer Mamarico Sansarona Jr., added, “No Filipino deserves such kind of unfounded personal attack. We must not resort to personal attacks because our agency is just doing its mandate. We are happy that our chair is very active in discharging the functions of our office based on existing laws.”

Now that chair Lala has inhibited herself from all noontime show issues, she shared what the situation is in their family gatherings nowadays given that her father, former Sen. Tito Sotto, is the host of It’s Showtime’s rival program E.A.T.

When asked if there is any awkward silence during family gatherings with her dad, she said, “You know what it’s nothing like that really. My parents, my siblings, my titos, my cousins, they are all so used to this, so nagiging joke na lang siya.”

Even for Lala, she shared that she is not letting the negative comments and sentiments get to her.

“I really believe that the Lord prepared me for this because I grew up in public scrutiny. I always saw my parents being talked about. I would read about my father or my titos or my family all the time on the papers,” she said.

“Bashing is not new to us, it’s not new to me at all. You all know what they have said about my father in the past, so I thank God I am unbothered.”

Circling back to the noontime show issues, during the press conference last Thursday, some of the media even asked the MTRCB Executive Committee whether the agency was being too harsh on It’s Showtime, to which chair Lala replied, “I don’t think mahigpit kami. Kung makakarating din ang ibang shows ng apat na warning at pitong dismissed cases at ganon ka grabe sa pananaw ng board and na-bother sila na may mga bata ganon din naman mangyayare sa ibang shows.”

Lala then said that she appreciates how Primetime King and top-rated actor Coco Martin has been so humble to go to the MTRCB every time there is a Notice to Appear due to concerns about his program. She also reiterated that besides It’s Showtime, the agency is also taking on more challenging matters like illegal cable operators. “There are more issues that are more challenging,” she said.

With regards to her father’s show, E.A.T., which has also been summoned by the agency many times and more recently because of the “rope joke” of host Joey de Leon, the MTRCB is also deliberating now on the sanctions that it has to place on the program and what its verdict will be.