Senators hit ‘Plane’ for putting Philippines in bad light

MANILA, Philippines — Senators condemned yesterday the negative portrayal of the Philippines in the fictional movie “Plane” that starred Gerard Butler as a commercial pilot whose plane crashed in Jolo and its survivors held hostage by extremists.

Sen. Robinhood Padilla raised the issue during the senators’ discussion on the latest reported human trafficking incident at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport allegedly involving corrupt immigration and airport officials exposed by Sen. Grace Poe.

“The reputation of our Motherland is being discussed here Mr. (Senate) President. If we talk about our own country and its faults, that’s okay because that’s our job. But if it’s another country that is hitting us, we must not condone that,” Padilla, a former actor, said in Filipino.

He said the film, which got mixed reviews, was “unacceptable” even as he called on the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board to ban the public showing of the film.

“We should not just ban it, we must also condemn it,” he said, noting the film narrates how the hero’s plane crashed in Jolo which is run by separatists and militia, and the “Filipino armies weren’t there anymore.”

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said he has not seen the film but saw a trailer, which he showed to President Marcos and Tourism Secretary Christina Frasco.

“As a nation we should send our regrets this is not the real situation on the ground,” Zubiri said.

Sen. Ronald dela Rosa said he watched the movie and he was “very much disgusted” as Brodie Torrance, the character played by Butler, first thought they crash landed in Davao, his home province before they were able to determine their exact location as Jolo.

Dela Rosa said the film really painted “a bad image” of the country as a place where beheadings occur for no apparent reason.