When the new Barbie movie was banned in Vietnam for purportedly showing a map with China's 9-dash line eyebrows were raised in the Philippines as everyone expected the MTRCB to follow suit. One Senator, without having seen the film, said it was a matter of national prestige.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1204936 |
A senator urged the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) on Wednesday to block the upcoming screening of Warner Bros. Pictures' "Barbie" movie after the film’s digital illustration of a scene with the so-called "nine-dash line" claim of the Chinese government of their supposed militaristic expansion in the entire South China Sea (SCS) region, including the zone along the West Philippine Sea (WPS).
In an interview with CNN Philippines, Senator Francis Tolentino warned that allowing the local screening of the film will only lead to "injurious" consequences to the prestige of the Philippines.
“This will not just be an injurious to the Republic of the Philippines but would be contrary to what our country fought for and achieved under that Arbitral Ruling in 2016,” Tolentino said.
“What the effect would be? Something that would dilute our sovereignty,” he added.
Is this guy for real? All the problems in the nation and he thinks one picture in a movie will be injurious the prestige of the Philippines? How about all the people killed in the drug war? Duterte's foul mouth? Troubles at NAIA? Crimes committed against tourists? Corrupt politicians and police? Pollution? Poverty?
Is he also aware that Duterte called the arbitral ruling a piece of paper that could be thrown away?
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| https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2021/5/6/Duterte-PH-arbitral-win-vs.-China-a-piece-of-paper.html |
President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday called the country's arbitral victory against China's claims in the West Philippine Sea a piece of paper that he can throw away in a trash bin.
In his second late-night address this week, Duterte said the ruling affirming the Philippines' sovereign rights in its exclusive economic zone is just a piece of paper that led to nothing.
"Nag-file sila ng kaso nanalo tayo... Sa totoong buhay, between nation, 'yang papel wala iyan...Actually... bigay mo sakin iyan sabihin ko 'P*t*ng-ina papel lang iyan'. Itatapon ko iyan sa waste basket," he said.
[Translation: They filed a case and we won. In real life, between nations, that paper is noting. Actually, if you give that to me, I will tell you 'Son of a ***** that is only a paper.' I will throw that in a waste basket.]
And it's not as if Marcos has been pressing China to abide by the ruling either. He is very chummy with Xi Jinping.
Well, it turns out the MTRCB gave the movie a viewing and decided that it did in fact NOT depict China's 9-dash line.
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| https://entertainment.inquirer.net/508818/mtrcb-approves-ph-screening-of-barbie-with-pg-rating |
The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) has allowed the local screening of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” saying that the cartoonish map does not depict China’s nine-dash line but the route of the make-believe journey of Barbie.
“Having conducted two review sessions, thorough deliberations, and consultations with relevant government agencies, including a legal expert on the West Philippine Sea, the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) has given the film ‘Barbie’ a Parental Guidance (‘PG’) rating, which means viewers below thirteen (13) years old must be accompanied by a parent or supervising adult,” MTRCB said in a statement released on Wednesday, July 12.
“Considering the context by which the cartoonish map of the character ‘Weird Barbie’ was portrayed in the film, the Review Committee is convinced that the contentious scene does not depict the ‘nine-dash line,'” it further read. “Instead, the map portrayed the route of the make-believe journey of Barbie from Barbie Land to the ‘real world,’ as an integral part of the story.”
MTRCB said it “exhausted all possible resources” before it decided on the matter, stressing that the board did not show hesitation in sanctioning previous “filmmakers/producers/distributors for exhibiting the fictitious ‘nine-dash line’ in their materials.”
“The Board sternly warns all filmmakers, producers, and distributors that it will not hesitate to sanction and/or ban films that exhibit the ‘nine-dash line’ for being contrary to law, pursuant to Section 3(c)(d) of Presidential Decree No. 1986, the Republic Act No. 9522, otherwise known as the Philippine Baselines Law, and the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s South China Sea Arbitration Award, whose anniversary we, as a nation, are celebrating today,” it added.
This was not good enough for Senator Tolentino who fired back with:
Tolentino lamented the board’s decision to screen the full movie, particularly in light of the seventh anniversary of the landmark judgment from The Hague disproved China's claim that it has historical sovereignty over the waters within its "nine-dash line" boundary.
[Translation: We respect the MTRCB whether it is an eight-dash line, seven-dash line, or nine-dash line - what we see here is China's continued encroachment on Philippine waters. And this is a clear violation of the rights of our fishermen, even of the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard.]
Tolentino further said that the MTRCB should have just removed the controversial scene that led Vietnam to ban the live-action adaptation.
https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2023/7/11/MTRCB-allows-Barbie-screening-in-PH.html
It also wasn't good enough for Congressman Rufus Rodrigues who is demanding that the entire MTRCB resign.
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| https://mb.com.ph/2023/7/13/rodriguez-calls-for-resignation-of-mtrcb-execs-for-green-lighting-offensive-movie-1 |
A ranking congressman wants officials of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) to resign following their decision to allow the commercial release of the movie “Barbie” starting July 19.
Cagayan de Oro City 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez is up in arms over the board's decision, since the film reportedly contains a depiction or reference to China’s expansive nine-dash line territorial claim over the South China Sea, including parts of the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
“I am dismayed and disappointed by MRTCB’s decision. The inclusion in the movie of China’s illegal nine-dash line claim is against our national interest, which the board apparently does not appreciate. Those officials should not stay in government any minute longer,” Rodriguez said Thursday, July 13.
Rodriguez said the MRTCB members’ vote to allow the commercial showing of the controversial movie “embarrasses and demeans the country and the administration of President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. before the international community.”
“I have no doubt that President BBM Jr. supports the July 12, 2016 arbitral ruling. He has repeatedly stated so. We should be the first country and people to assert it and to insist that China complies with it because it was our victory in the international tribunal,” said the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments chairman.
He further noted that Vietnam--a country that has also butted heads with China over maritime claims--didn't allow the local release of Barbie.
“If its Vietnam counterpart has found it offensive, why can’t MTRCB? asked Rodriguez.
The MTRCB justified its decision by saying, "The Board believes that, all things considered, it has no basis to ban the film 'Barbie' as there is no clear nor outright depiction of the 'nine-dash line' in the subject of the film.”
Rodriguez said the board’s statement “is an admission that there is a portrayal of China’s claim in the movie, though it was not, to use the agency’s own language, ‘clear nor outright’".
“A direct or indirect insult is still an insult. If you don’t get that, MTRCB, shame on you!” he said the Mindanaoan, who has been a consistent critic of China’s encroachment and aggressive activities in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) and the country’s EEZ.
How ridiculous. Vietnam found it offensive so the Philippines should too. Top logic there! And look at how Rep. Rodriguez twists the statement to the MTRCB so that "there is no clear nor outright depiction of the 'nine-dash line'" means there actually is a depiction of the 9-dash line just indirectly. How can one even respond to such stupidity?
It's funny how these people get all twisted up over a movie but in real life they don't care about the 9-dash line at all. If they did they would be protecting fisherman and not cozying up to China. Philippine fishermen know.
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| https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1798133/ph-govt-told-to-popularize-2016-pca-ruling-on-south-china-sea-than-pick-on-barbie |
A Filipino fishermen’s group has called on the government to “popularize in different venues” the Philippines’ 2016 arbitral victory in the South China Sea than nitpick on the “Barbie” movie.
The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) believed that the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should strongly assert the country’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity instead of yielding to suggestions to ban the fictional film over its depiction of China’s nine-dash line claim.
“A single scene in a film doesn’t have any bearing [on] what the Filipino fishers believe and stand for – that the West Philippine Sea is indisputably ours and ours alone. The Philippine government should instead popularize in different venues the 2016 arbitral ruling, as a way to uphold our national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Pamalakaya chair Fernando Hicap said in a statement.
The group added that the administration “would appear much tougher if it confronts China” about its trespasses in the West Philippine Sea.
Several senators were outraged by the depiction of China’s nine-dash line claim in the Barbie movie, with some calling for a ban on its screening in the Philippines.
“The Marcos administration would appear much tougher if it directly confronts China every time the latter causes an untoward incident in our territorial waters, rather than picking on a fictional film. For instance, Marcos should protest the recent harassment of Chinese vessel against Philippine Coast Guard in Ayungin Shoal,” Hicap said.
The Pamalakaya leader refers to an incident when Chinese vessels maneuvered dangerously close to Philippine Coast Guard ships last week.
“As for the Filipino fishers, we won’t be spending even a minute nitpicking on a detail in a fictional film. We’re too busy walking our talk and safeguarding our fishing grounds,” Hicap said.
But let's listen to President Marcos who apparently had a moment of clarity.
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| https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1205676 |
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. assuaged public worries on the controversial foreign movie “Barbie,” saying it is a “work of fiction.”
In a chance interview on the sidelines of his official engagements in Northern Samar on Friday, including the inauguration of the 11.607-kilometer Samar Pacific Coastal Road project in Laoang town, Marcos echoed the earlier expert opinion of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) that a scene in the movie has nothing to do with nine-dash line claim of China in the disputed South China Sea.
In 2016, the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled as illegal the so-called nine-dash line, which Beijing uses to illustrate its claims on at least 80 percent of the South China Sea, and that the invisible demarcation overlaps with the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
“Maganda raw eh, sabi nila (It’s a good one, according to them),” Marcos said of the film.
In response to concerns regarding the alleged tackling of China’s territorial claims, Marcos said the depiction of the boundary line is part of the movie.
“Ang sagot ko doon (My reply to that), what do you expect? It’s a work of fiction,” he said.
The MTRCB thinks the Barbie movie is a good film? It doesn't matter anyway because we all know the black market will be flooded with bootleg cam versions of this film.
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