Various artist organizations are opposing Senate Bill no 2805 or the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) Act. They say it will clearly be used for censorship and to suppress the Filipinos’ freedom of expression.

Senator Robinhood Padilla proposed the MTRCB Act, co-authored by Win Gatchalian, Francis Tolentino, Lito Lapid, Grace Poe, Joel Villanueva, and Ramon Revilla Jr. The bill was approved on June 2.

The law aims to increase the power of the MTRCB to censor films and shows including those on streaming platforms such as Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, Prime Video, and others. They say this is to protect viewers, especially the youth.

Panday Sining called the bill an “attack on the right to free expression of cultural workers, especially those who assert social change and expose the Philippines’ rotten conditions through art.”

The Concerned Artist of the Philippines (CAP), AKTOR League of Filipino Actors, Filipino Screenwriters Guild, Directors Guild of the Philippines (DGPI), Philippine Independent Producers Guild, Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino, Guild of Assistant Directors and Script Supervisors of the Philippines, SIKAP–Creative Content Creators Association of the Philippines, and University of the Philippines Film Institute (UPFI) also expressed similar opposition.

“The bill allegedly aims to ‘protect’ audiences. But it actually just empowers the MTRCB to censor,” the Filipino Screen Writers Guild said.

“In its Declaration of Policy, the proposed law deletes the current law’s intentions for self-regulation of the film/TV industries and converts the MTRCB into a parens patriae (parent of the country), concentrating instead on its self-anointed role as guardian of public morals,” the DGPI stated.

CAP challenged lawmakers to uphold and defend free expression, artistic freedom, and cultural participation. According to the fourth clause of their Artist’s Agenda, censorship by regulatory bodies such as the MTRCB curtails artistic freedom and intimidates cultural workers.

UPFI called for the abolition of the MTRCB. They said the agency is an antiquated and ineffective government agency founded on “vague notions of public good, a remnant of the Martial Law era, infamous for silencing dissent.”

Panday Sining urged the Filipino film and art industry, cultural workers, artists, and youth to oppose the MTRCB Act. They said rejecting the law will enable the arts community to better defend and promote a truly nationalistic, scientific, and mass-oriented culture.