Erap camp asks MTRCB to reconsider X-rating

The camp of former President Joseph Estrada appealed yesterday to the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) to set aside its "X" rating for the documentary on the life and times of the disgraced leader.

Former immigration commissioner Rufus Rodriguez, lawyer for Public Asia which produced the Estrada documentary "To Live for the Masses," said they have sent an appeal to MTRCB Chairwoman Consoliza Laguardia to reconsider their decision, pointing out the film is a newsreel.

Rodriguez said the MTRCB’s definition of a newsreel violated the Supreme Court’s definition of the term which also usurps the authority of the legislature.

"The Supreme Court defines newsreel as ‘a short motion picture film portraying or dealing with current events,’" Rodriguez said.

"The MTRCB, on the other hand, insists on their own definition which describes a newsreel as ‘straight news reporting, not commentaries or opinions,’" he said.

Rodriguez claimed the MTRCB was forced to put an "X" rating on the documentary and ban it from public viewing because of their "perception" that it is against President Arroyo.

Rodriguez argued administrative agencies such as the MTRCB have no authority to expand or narrow down the meaning of statutory terms.

"Their (MTRCB’s) quasi-legislative authority gives them the duty to fill in the details in the execution of the law, but not to alter the law," he stressed.

Rodriguez said the documentary in question was clearly a newsreel in four fundamental aspects.

"It is a motion picture film, it lasts less than an hour. More importantly, it deals with current events before, during and after President Estrada’s incumbency as President of the Republic of the Philippines in relation to the current political issue of presidential leadership problems," he said.

He said the events presented in the documentary form part of the political history of the nation which can be verified through independent sources.

"(They) are not figments of mere imagination, making it a depiction of actualities as specified in the Supreme Court’s definition of the term ‘newsreel,’" Rodriguez said.

The MTRCB said the public exhibition of the video may weaken the people’s faith in the government, thus earning it an "X" rating.