The change needed in the MTRCB

A lot of people will always doubt you, a lot more will belittle you. There will be those who will even mock you. However, you must not let other people decide who you can or can’t be – what you can or can’t do.

From the very start, everyone knows that I’m not interested in any government position nor am I interested in entering the difficult world of politics. Everyone who knows me personally knows as well that my support for President Duterte does not come with the hope of being given a position in the government.

Why then did I accept the offer to become a board member of the MTRCB or the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board? The main reason is because we were informed that the Duterte Administration needs help in this department, but few are willing to accept it due to the minimal salary; and if the government asks for our assistance to do what we can in any department, why then should we refuse to help?

It’s also worth noting that I have accepted the position on the condition that I will not receive any salary. But if it will not be allowed, I have decided to use the salary to donate groceries to Duterte’s Kitchen which helps the people, especially children living on the streets. If there are any left, they will go to DSWD centers/projects.

For transparency, once I receive the salary I will be documenting via video what we’re going to do with it so everyone will see that it really goes directly to Duterte’s Kitchen/DSWD. This way, we can help the government in this area and at the same time, help those who are in need.

What is MTRCB? A quick look at their website (http://www.mtrcb.gov.ph/transparency/mandate-and-functions.html#) will tell you that it is a government agency “responsible for rating television and film for the Philippines” with several mandates like “promote and protect the family, the youth, the disabled and other vulnerable sectors of society in the context of media and entertainment” and “promote a value-based media and entertainment culture” which is also part of the agency’s mission.

I promise to help bring change to MTRCB regardless of how some people judge me based on my career. You can expect that my first mission will be to stop soft porn-like scenes in primetime TV shows. It will be a difficult fight, especially because I am just one of the 30 board members but it will be our main goal to convince everyone to remove scenes that do not coincide with the agency’s mission to “encourage value-based media and entertainment culture.”

I was also informed by a former MTRCB board member who served for more than six years that the “SPG” rating was just made-up to allow sexual content in TV shows. The rating that was used before was just “G” for general audience, “PG” for parental guidance, while the “R” ratings were just for movies.

Now, if the “SPG” rating were just designed to allow sexual content in TV shows, then I believe that this rating must be abolished because if we really look at the usual set-up of ordinary Filipino families, children as young as five years old are watching these TV shows and the presence of an adult does not always make it acceptable.

Most of the time, the adults that we expect to guide the children are too engrossed in the TV show that they don’t have time to cover the children’s eyes or ears and/or explain to them what is happening in what they’re watching. This is the change that we will try to bring into MTRCB: We will push for the removal of the “SPG” rating or at least, initiate more programs to engage and educate the audience on what to do if they are with children when watching TV shows with contents that are not appropriate for minors.

I think that just putting a particular rating on a TV show is not enough. We need continuous action to help the adults guide the children who may be too young to understand the scenes they are watching and the words they are hearing. This is where we will try to make an impact.

We have fought for change in our government, we have fought for change in our film industry, and so I hope that we can also fight for change in TV shows.