GMA appoints 17 MTRCB members

President Arroyo reappointed yesterday 16 out of the 30 members of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board and appointed a new one, but kept the positions of MTRCB chairman and vice chairman vacant pending the resolution of graft cases against them.

The President also named Gabriel Ma. Lopez as the new executive director of MTRCB, an agency under the Office of the President which regulates and supervises the local entertainment industry.

Lopez was the former chief of staff of then First Lady Sen. Luisa Ejercito, and is related to the Lopezes who own the ABS-CBN television network.

The new appointee to the MTRCB is Ma. Consoliza Laguardia. She took the place of actor-comedian Noel Trinidad, who resigned.

The re-appointed MTRCB board members are Dennis Manicad; movie director Emmanuel Borlaza; Pilar Cristina Amador; movie director Jose Romero IV; Teresita Daza; Rev. Antonio Sayson, Jr.; Jacqueline Suzanne Aquino-Gavino; Marra Lanot; Alfred Yuson; Jaime Bengzon; Edmund Sicam; TV/movie writer and director Mario Hernando; actor-comedian Jaime Fabregas; Benedicto Ternate, Sr.; Msgr. Nico Bautista; and Eric Henry Joseph Mallonga.

The positions of MTRCB chairman and vice chairman will be kept vacant until the graft charges against current chairman Marilen Dinglasan and vice chairman June Keithley have been resolved, according to Mrs. Arroyo.

The President also said that Dinglasan and Keithley will both be considered "on leave," and an officer-in-charge will be designated from among the 17 MTRCB members. – With Romel Bagares