MTRCB warned of abolition over Netflix plan

MANILA, Philippines — Invoking Congress’ power of the purse, leaders of the House of Representatives have declared bold pronouncements against the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board  (MTRCB) for planning to regulate video streaming platforms like Netflix.

Deputy Speaker for finance LRay Villafuerte is the latest to join Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano in opposing the agency’s plan, describing it as a “regulatory overstretch” at a time where internet has “transformed the world into one humungous IT society.”

He called it an “imbecilic mindset” which is another term for stupidity, warning that with budget deliberations underway, they might as well view MTRCB as “an anachronism that necessitates urgent downsizing, if not an outright dissolution by giving it a zero outlay.”

“MTRCB’s plan to regulate online video streaming platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, iflix, HOOQ and Apple TV is a farcical take on censorship that is incongruous with the new world order,” the Camarines Sur congressman said.

The agency may suffer “a hefty cut in its 2021 budget,” Villafuerte declared.

Cayetano, congressman from Taguig-Pateros, called the plan in his Facebook post as “ridiculous” and “mind-boggling.”

“Is this what the MTRCB wants to prioritize?” he asked, noting that the country is suffering from a recession brought about by the COVID pandemic.

“MTRCB is focused on the outdated mindset of information regulation and censorship. What decade are you in?” the Speaker asked. “Congress will give them a chance to explain how they came up with this ridiculous idea.

“What makes this even more mind-boggling is that, in the first place, the MTRCB has no jurisdiction over Netflix and other online content,” Cayetano stressed, as this goes against the government’s efforts in pursuing transparency in all of its affairs.

Villafuerte, for his part, called on MTRCB regulators to “stop wasting taxpayers’ money tinkering with this imbecilic idea, lest they give us legislators enough reason to drastically slash their agency’s allocation, if not give it a zero budget.”

MTRCB legal affairs division chief Jonathan Presquito was quoted as saying last week that these video-on-demand platforms need to be regulated to make sure the materials they are showing are compliant with MTRCB law.

MTRCB chairperson Rachel Arenas, daughter of Deputy Speaker Rosemarie Arenas, was also quoted as saying last week that such regulatory power would ensure that all online video platforms operating in the country are made to comply with Filipino contemporary values.

Villafuerte said the idea for the MTRCB to censor online video content is a “futile and preposterous exercise – if not waste of government resources – considering that there are more offensive, prurient or obscene materials that anybody with a wi-fi connection can get.”

According to him, there are “other social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, or porn sites that are free from official regulation.”

He pointed out that one legal opinion holds that the MTRCB, given its mandate under Presidential Decree 1986 issued in 1985, in fact has no jurisdiction over digital video content being offered to online consumers.

“In the first place, this law that created the MTRCB was issued by then president (Ferdinand) Marcos decades before the global explosion of video-on-demand online services,” Villafuerte said in a statement.

Even if the MTRCB, granting for the sake of argument, can prove that it has the legal authority to regulate such online content, he doubted whether it  has both the resources and manpower to do such a “seemingly herculean task 24/7.”

‘Ill-timed’

For her part, Vice President Leni Robredo yesterday said the plan of the MTRCB to regulate content on Netflix and other online streaming services was “ill-timed.”

Robredo, in her weekly program over dzXL, said many people can only watch movies through online streaming and Netflix due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I would like to presume that Netflix is not adding movies that are not reviewed first,” she said.

She likened it to the government’s earlier plan to tax online sellers and the closure of ABS-CBN in the time of pandemic.

“I hope there’s always a recognition of the kind of situation we are in right now, I hope they would not add to the people’s suffering,” she said.

“If you are sensitive to what is happening around you, you can come up with the right decisions,” she said. – Helen Flores