Today, the Cebu City Council will come up with a public hearing on an amendatory ordinance to strengthen the Cebu City Anti-Indecency Board to supposedly cope with the changing times. This proposed law was authored by Councilor Lea Ouano-Japson and now includes movie theaters, mini-theaters, and the like which shows movies that are classified as "Restricted" or "For Adults Only." This section involving theaters and moviehouses can be found in Section 8 of this proposed ordinance.
But perhaps the most offensive part of this proposed ordinance could be found on Section 3 and let me reprint this part. "Section 3 of the City Ordinance 1408 is hereby amended in order to read as follows. "Section 3 Powers and Functions-The Board shall have the following functions, powers and duties. The Board of its duly authorized members or deputies shall conduct frequent inspections and investigations on all bookstores, magazine shops, newspaper stands, adult stores, theaters (including mini-theaters, nightclubs, beerhouses, KTW/Cocktail lounges, Spa and Massage parlors or massage clinics, sauna bath parlors, and other similar establishments in order to determine whether or not indecent, lewd or obscene shows, dances and other performances whether live or in films or video tapes are being exhibited."
What is particularly offensive in this proposal as far as the theaters or movie houses are concerned is the part that reads, "For this purpose, owners, managers, or promoters shall give full and unconditional access to the Board or its duly authorized members or deputies in order to conduct inspection or investigation of their establishments at any time of the day or night."
What's happening in Cebu City… are we back to the dark days of Martial Law when government regulators or so-called deputies can at anytime of the day or night conduct what they would call inspections, but in the end… these people just want to get freebies? Let me point out clearly that I'm only speaking about the involvement of movie houses or theaters because apparently the officials of the City of Cebu have forgotten their history.
Before the creation of the Cebu City Anti-Indecency Board, there was an ordinance called the Cebu City Review Committee. A priest, who is now a good friend of mine, headed it. This was in the 1980's when theaters or movie houses were the principal entertainment of that era. The Betamax was already there, but it was too expensive to compete with movie houses or theaters.
What the CCRC members wanted to do was to review all movies that would be shown in Cebu City to find out whether they have passed the Board of Review for Motion Pictures & Television, which today has been renamed to the Movies, Theaters Review & Classification Board. Mind you, the original name was the Board of Censors, which was created even before Martial Law was declared.
To cut a very long story short (but for anyone who wants the full account of this story, you can contact me and if I have the time, I can give you the full details of this incident), we showed a Regal Film movie both in Oriente Theater and Century 21 entitled "Scorpio Nights" which I had the members of the CCRC come to the theater to review. Instead they did not want to show it despite the fact that it had a permit by the BRMPT.
Then Mayor Ramon Duterte ordered our theaters to be closed and we filed an injunction in court and got it. But since it was Martial Law, Army soldiers came to confiscate the film. Regal Film's matriarch Mother Lily sent me a lawyer in the name of Raul Gonzales (he became the Ombudsman during Tita Cory's time and later Department of Justice under PGMA) because he was the person that Congress used to create the BRMPT. Since he knew the spirit behind the BRMPT law, the Regional Trial Court ordered that the ordinance creating the CCRC was considered null & void ab initio!
So when the Cebu City Council came up years later to enact the CAIB, the Cebu City Council called me if I had any objections and all I told them was, remember the CCRC. I'm writing this column in order for the Cebu City Council, notably my dear friend, Councilor Leah Japson who obviously doesn't remember this incident where the City of Cebu lost nearly P200,000 in damages to the Avila Family because of that incident.
But since that case was literally run over by the EDSA Revolt, the City of Cebu did not file any motion for reconsideration when they lost the case. Hence, it was considered final and executory. In fact some pundits questioned whether a lower court could declare a law unconstitutional. Well, as legal beagles told me… if no one contested that case, then it is deemed final and executory. When then Mayor Tomas Osmeña assumed office for the first time, he requested me that the City of Cebu merely deduct this from our amusement taxes for a period of one year and we agreed. This is history!
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