Locsin wants ‘offensive’ map scene deleted from ‘Abominable’

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ top diplomat has suggested a “universal boycott” of DreamWorks movies in the country following an animated film’s depiction of China’s nine-dash line in the South China Sea.

“For me call a universal boycott of all @Dreamworks productions from here on,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. posted on his Twitter account on Tuesday night.

He later emphasized that he only “suggested” a boycott, and proposed to have the offending scene cut out instead.

Locsin’s tweets came after Vietnam pulled the animated DreamWorks film Abominable from the country’s cinemas over a scene featuring a map showing China’s unilaterally declared “nine-dash line” in the South China Sea.

Maritime law expert Jay Batongbacal replied to Locsin in a tweet stating that a “call for boycott should still be made as a strong statement against such tactics, also so as to not contribute to CN (China) coffers by seeing the movie, and send message to US companies partnering w/ CN propagandists to stop enabling such moves.”

Replying to Batongbacal, Locsin clarified also in a tweet, “I am not sending any f*****g message. A general boycott isn’t my duty but I’ve suggested it. All @Dreamworks productions, no re-runs – IF that’s not an unconstitutional denial of Filipinos’ right to see what they want; not what some f*****g natives think they should or should not.”

Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, pointed out that the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) technically has the power to require deletion of objectionable portions of films for reasons that include being “injurious to the prestige of the Republic of the Philippines or its people” (Presidential Decree 1986, sec. 3, para. c), which is “what this does if we quietly allow it to be shown without some form of protest.”

Since there is no ground to ban the film, Locsin said the “offending” Chinese map scene depicting Beijing’s nine-dash line should be removed instead of banning the movie in the country.

“Of course they should cut out the offending scene which will show our displeasure better than if we unconstitutionally ban it as some suggest,” Locsin tweeted.