MANILA, Philippines — A rights group on Tuesday criticized the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Philippine National Police for crying foul over the supposedly negative portrayal of cops in the television show “Ang Probinsyano.”
Instead of “attacking a work of fiction,” the DILG and PNP should address the problems plaguing the government’s security forces, Karapatan stressed.
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“They should stop being so obsessed with their already notorious image and instead start adhering to their mandate to genuinely serve and protect the Filipino people,” Karapatan said.
It added that the public’s perception of cops is based on the action of real-life policemen and not on the acting of fictional cops they watch on television.
“The PNP and the government’s security forces have become the villains in the eyes of the people not because of the programs aired on television, but because of their own brutality and lack of regard for people’s rights throughout the years, especially under the Duterte regime. What remains disturbing are the spate of killings, illegal arrests, abductions, and harassment.,” the rights group said.
Censorship
Karapatan, moreover, stressed that the threat of DILG Secretary Eduardo Año to pursue legal action against the show’s producers if the storyline remains unchanged is tantamount to censorship.
“[The] statement demanding a change in the program’s plot is a blatant display of state censorship. This is aking to Marcos’ removal of animated series “Voltes V” because it ended with the triumphant overthrow of an evil empire,” it said.
Año said the producers of “Ang Probinsyano” and DILG officials would have a “constructive meeting” about the show.
He also said the producers have a moral and ethical responsibility to portray the PNP to the public.
The Concerned Artists of the Philippines earlier condemned the statements of DILG and the PNP against “Ang Probinsyano,” saying this is an attack on freedom of expression.
The producers of the show have stressed that the show was not meant to disparage the PNP and that a disclaimer is shown before the show starts making clear that the events and people in the TV show are fictional.