It may be stupid, but it's the law

In the history of television censorship (okay, review and classification — as recent governments had preferred to call it), it is the people manning the current Movie, Television Review & Classification Board (MTRCB) who had been involved in the least number of controversies. (The administration of Juan Sison, which lasted from October 1985 to the first EDSA revolt February of the following year, was too short to get embroiled in any kind of mess — never mind if that was the time Ferdinand Marcos was allowing the exhibition of sex flicks like Silip and Perfumed Garden.)

Surely, it helps that the members of the present board had been reasonable enough in their decisions and aren’t overly strict when it comes to implementing rules that cover both movies and television. MTRCB chair Consoliza Laguardia had also been most gracious and jovial that she sometimes even drops by the set of live programs to say hello and reach out to showbiz people. (I can never forget the day she went to the Startalk studio — never were we on our best behavior!) Basically, the showbiz industry doesn’t have major issues with the Laguardia board and she and her members can be quite liberal and allow both movies and television room for growth.

It’s just too bad that the present MTRCB board — like its more recent predecessors — inherited censorship laws that are obviously flawed and its chairman and members can be helpless in some instances. Let’s review the disciplinary measures imposed recently on ABS-CBN’s Showtime and find out how the now controversial program easily got off the hook — practically no sweat — by going around existing MTRCB rules.

The other week, this morning talent show created a stir when it was suspended by the MTRCB. Just a brief recap of the events: Guest judge Rosanna Roces had a playful swap of words with regular Vice Ganda. I’d rather not repeat the exchange here — although I have to say that by today’s on-cam behavior by TV talents, it wasn’t really all that offensive. However, that private joke between Rosanna and Vice Ganda obviously didn’t sit well with the MTRCB — prompting the board to write ABS-CBN a letter calling the network people’s attention to it (it was really just a reminder).

ABS-CBN reportedly didn’t act fast enough and didn’t bother with a response. The next day, Rosanna’s tirade against the teachers took place and Showtime was slapped with a suspension by the MTRCB.

As you read this, it’s back to business as usual for Showtime — thanks to some legal way-out employed by the network’s lawyers. I am not questioning the legalities used by ABS-CBN in this case because it is the right of the station to exhaust all possible means to get out of that fix. Nobody can accuse the network of resorting to anything illegal to shorten the suspension of its morning talent show.

However, there had always been this MTRCB ruling that had been bothering me for the longest time now. In the mid-‘90s, the late night talk show of Johnny Litton was suspended for a week. And so we missed Johnny on the night he was supposed to air — a Wednesday. In its place was another talk show and the discussion, if I recall correctly, focused on censorship. But the week after that, we welcomed back Johnny and everything was back to normal.

Then about a decade ago, Magandang Tanghali Bayan (MTB) was suspended, along with main hosts Randy Santiago, Willie Revillame and John Estrada, who were notorious for their lewd jokes on noontime TV. In its place, ABS-CBN put up immediately a lunchtime program called Esep-Esep, a term coined by co-host Amy Perez in MTB’s Pera o Bayong game portion.

Pera o Bayong was actually MTB’s most popular segment and the MTRCB suspension turned out to be quite a blessing for ABS-CBN because the replacement was a huge hit. What happened was that the network was rewarded for being bad.

In the case of Showtime, what ABS-CBN did was put up, promptly as ever, Magpasikat Ka with the same hosts, but with a little bit of tweaking here and there. In lieu of regular contestants, they invited celebrities to take part in the competition.

Ratings dipped, but not all that badly. In terms of advertising revenues, I doubt if they lost anything. And now Showtime is back and ABS-CBN feels victorious.

This is the flaw in the MTRCB guidelines that I wish could be amended, except that the way I understand it, the board’s hands are tied because they are bound by existing rules that they have to follow and they have no choice but to adhere to what is dictated by law, no matter how defective that is.

Maybe while the MTRCB rules were being drafted, nobody expected that showbiz people could be so cunning (and I don’t just mean ABS-CBN — we all are) and play around with the guidelines. Under existing laws, it is obvious that if a program gets suspended, all you have to do is change the title and you have an instant replacement. All that it takes is an hour or two of emergency brainstorming and you’re set.

If MTRCB guidelines could be revised (although I swear it’s not going to be that easy), this is my suggestion: When a program gets suspended, don’t allow the station to put any replacement in the timeslot of the show being punished. If it’s a noontime program that airs from 12 noon to 1 p.m., MTRCB should insist on letting that time slot go to waste and instruct the network to let that whole one hour go blank — with nothing on the screen, except for the station’s logo. At 1 p.m., the network can start going on broadcast again by airing the post-programmer of the show being disciplined.

Under the present set-up, I’m sure the violators are just laughing behind MTRCB’s back — and the board can’t do anything because it has to follow the law and what it dictates.

I am not raising this issue because Showtime is ABS-CBN-produced. This suggestion may boomerang and in the future affect my own program, Startalk on GMA 7, because of its live format and the very delicate and sensitive showbiz issues we tackle every week. Startalk had its own skirmishes with the MTRCB in its 15 years on air and our executive producer had to report to the office of chairman Laguardia (and even those before her) quite a number of times in the past. Even I — branded by the industry to be among the most careful broadcast practitioners of this generation (I’m not even sure if that’s a compliment) had a close brush with the MTRCB during an interview one time with Lara Morena, who uttered expletives live on air and that made jaws drop in the studio and I’m sure even among TV viewers. To my extreme relief, my experience of doing live programs for a bit over a decade saved the day for all of us in Startalk. To the younger set of live program hosts, always bear in mind that if the scenario becomes messy, try to remedy the situation by apologizing at once to the viewers and point out what was wrong for the sake of the kids watching the show.

I may be digging my own grave with this piece because I may find myself in a sticky predicament sometime soon, especially since I am given mostly the controversial showbiz figures who can be uncontrollable (the inclusion of Ricky Lo last year had made life actually easier for me). 

 But the law should be revised because whoever drafted the guidelines obviously never put into consideration that showbiz people could be very creative — yes, even when circumventing the law.

 If the existing MTRCB guidelines are not changed, then it’s always going to be show time for the bad eggs in the industry all the time.