Technically, not anymore, not since the old appellation for the agency that operates under the Office of the President was changed from Board of Censors to the Movie & Television Review & Classification Board, a long time ago.
So, we’re reviewers and classifiers. We preview movies and television fare. Over the past year, even the video output that used to go through the Optical Media Board or OMB (formerly the Videogram Regulatory Board or VRB, and which now only runs after "pirates") has been turned over to the MTRCB for rating. That means more work, for the three-person preview committees that decide on a classification for each submission.
Movies can be given a G (for General Patronage), a PG-13 (for kids below 13 in the company of an adult, ostensibly for "parental guidance"), R-13 (for 13-year-olds and above who can watch such fare by themselves), R-18 (restricted to 18 and above), or X.
Aye and aieee! There’s the X-word. I guess that’s what makes us censors after all, if you want to be liberal with the term. And I tend to be liberal. As the current generation says, whatever. Just a word, anyway.
For TV, there are only three possible classifications: G, PG (requiring TV stations to advise Parental Guidance) and X. For movie trailers, either it’s G for General Patronage, or X. That’s because very young kids can be watching a family movie rated G, but then get subjected to an overdose of… uhh, well, sex and violence from a trailer. And we don’t want that, right? So we at the MTRCB are particularly conscientious (okay, strict) when it comes to movie trailers.
For TV, we usually take consideration of the time slot. Like, personally, I’m disgusted over ultimate fighting shows featuring grown men pummeling one another with bare knuckles (no sweet science there!) while wrestling on the floor. A PG warning is necessary, but I’d rather these were shown very late at night, if at all. Heaven knows there’s enough violence in this world without having to allow such brutish displays of macho-hood rub off on our kids, or worse, the school bullies who pick on our kids.
In any case, when a public entertainment offering gets an X, which is really rather seldom, the producer has a couple of options. First, he can apply for a second review, which will then involve five, not just three, board members who may overturn the initial preview committee’s vote.
If it gets a second X by way of majority vote, the producer can still appeal to the OP (that’s the Office by the Pasig, yeah). Before (as movie folk are wont to say), there was an Appeals Committee with designated members that met only for this function. But it’s been done away with, and no one has since raised an appeal to the Palace after getting X’d twice over. It may mean we’re doing okay, or that the entertainment industry now knows the boundaries of… este, licentiousness. Or both.
A second option, if one doesn’t want to run the risk of a second review, much less an appeal to the Palace, is to exercise voluntary deletions that will allow the film to slide up in rating from an X to at least an R-18, never mind SM cinemas which have established an independent republic of morals.
So, technically, we don’t really censor. We talk nicely to producers or their representatives and say, maybe: "Wow, naman, pare, di talaga pwede yan, eh sobrang kabastusan na yan, kitang-kitang sinubo yung ano…" Or: Masyadong bayolente, tinuhog na nga ng kawayan, pina-ikot-ikot pa sa katawan yung matulis na dulo, kita n’ang abdo…" Or: "Pucha, gross-out naman yan, nahulog na nga sa building, lalapain pa ng mga aso sa kalye."
Every country needs an MTRCB or a similar agency as a watchdog. As Spider-man learns, with great power comes great responsibility. The MTRCB really has little power compared to that wielded by filmmakers and producers. But they can’t just show anything in public, because there are children among us, as well as sensitive sectors of society.
It’s not just gratuitous sex or violence that’s a no-no. The PD or Presidential Decree that specifies the MTRCB’s mandate would also have us sanction attacks against government, a religious bloc, or a cultural community.
These are givens. And for the most part, we are not ogres but 30 men and women who are generally representative of Philippine society, tasked to protect juvenile sensibilities and adult sensitivity while "applying contemporary community standards."
Some of us are quite lenient, and would allow a display of both teats or frontal nudity or even a "pumping scene" in a well-made movie where such scenes are integral to the story. Others are stricter. You put together 30 men and women of various ages and varying backgrounds, you’ll get extremes and middle-roaders. You’ll have arguments. And you’ll also be subject to the luck of the draw – that is, it will depend on the composition of a preview committee.
Such is life at the MTRCB, of which I have been a member for some six years now. All that time I’ve associated with all sorts of wonderful people and zany characters as may constitute a continuing turnover of membership. Board veterans who have served longer include journalists Ed Sicam and Mario Hernando, as well as pillars of society like Benny Ternate and Lucy Orense, both of whom happen to be amiable, gracious and very charming individuals.
Why, Lucy even sings at Christmas parties that the MTRCB staff takes pains to organize, and no one has to throw a coin or two into any hat. Some of us even sing and/or dance with her. Like her, the other "ladies of the MTRCB" (which I knew would attract your attention) are the best argument against any misinformed, knee-jerk opinion as to our sanity or sense of humanity.
On the current board are 11 ladies and 17 gentlemen (two slots are currently unfilled). The ladies include a couple of former vice chairpersons: June Keithley Castro and Jackie Aquino Gavino. June is particularly vocal at discussions when it comes to protecting children."A, basta, my apo," she likes to say, "I wouldn’t have him or her watch that!" And she obviously has the strength of her convictions, which is tempered however by her ability to laugh over any situation. Jackie was a child star, ergo, she contributed to the entertainment industry. She can’t be expected to be too harsh on it, even as she now runs playrooms for children.
It’s enjoyable to be around these ladies. I get to exchange recipes with them. Jackie has tipped me off on Sinigang sa Pakwan (ah, delectable), my variation of which recently made it to Food magazine. Ditto with Tess Lazatin, ever generous with her paella which I swear is the best in town. She has a recipe for an alternative she calls paella al horno, which is baked, with pork tail, chorizo, garbanzos, etc. It has become a staple in our dining table.
Marra PL. Lanot is a poet and teacher, so we have much in common, including positive lifelong relations with her husband Pete Lacaba and his siblings. Betty Molina, a knowledgeable academic, counsels me against being so maangas, always telling me to cool down, before she asks for more Mickey Mouse seedlings she can grow in her farm up north.
Prof. Mariquit Mendoza, a veteran in government, wears many hats and still sports twinkling eyes even if she’s almost as senior as me. The well-coiffed Tess Villarama, wife to Rep. Willy Villarama of Bulacan, is always a treat to preview with, as she’s a bubbly personality. Carmela Padilla, married to movie actor Manjo del Mundo, is the youngest member, ever pleasant and tolerant in her views. A couple of recent additions are the quiet and reserved Gen Estonilo-Reyes of ABS-CBN and broadcaster Kathy Villar.
Heading our board is a lady, chair Ma. Consoliza Laguardia, who handles a thankless job with patience and grace, enough to transcend the usual brickbats that even say she’s appropriately, righteously named. Of the President’s appointees as chair, she has held the post the longest, going on four years now. It’s a measure of how much she’s been accepted and appreciated by the industry, as well as the MTRCB’s regular employees whose welfare has been her foremost concern.
Our executive director is Dr. Editha Demetria, so she’s an E.D. twice over. She smiles all the time, and gifts me with fine longaniza from Pangasinan. I believe we’re related; she looks so much like an aunt from my dad’s hometown of Lingayen. The staff also has numerous ladies who are all very pleasant to deal with. Besides, they do their work, and they do it right.
Previous lady members I’ve enjoyed the company of include theater and film actor Pinky Amador, scriptwriter Raquel Villavicencio, writer Rustica Carpio, my textmate Becky Avelino, the elegant Lynn Alberto, the gregarious Tess Daza, and Sophie Macapagal who was a genuine Tita to everyone.
Let’s leave the gentlemen out of this, even if they too are your regular Josés, if of various stripes. The point of all this name-dropping is to disabuse the minds of all those instant flamers and haters who, enjoying the liberties of the Internet, so quickly take to condemning the Board for our supposed bigotry, senility, stupidity, and what-have-you short of terrorism. As well as those on the other end of the heckling gamut who demand that we crack down on everything.
Between the so-called anti-porn groups and my fellow libertines (but who have yet to get a life, let alone make an effort to understand it), the MTRCB gets it both ways, coming and going. We’re damned over every little issue that comes along.
The Lukayo incident was unfortunate. As I admitted to Howie Severino, who is arguably our finest video-docu artist, I didn’t quite agree with the decision to sanction I-Witness with a suspension. Why, I took pleasure in his presentation of a cultural tradition, however picaresque it may have seemed, with all those wooden representations of dicks.
On the other hand, also valid was the observation that it might have offended the sensibilities of certain quarters. If I were in the adjudication committee that discussed the complaints, I would have stood up for Severino’s artistic license. But I wasn’t. And I have to respect the decision of those who were.
Luck of the draw. Besides, we’re a collegial body. One’s vote isn’t always the winning one. So we compromise. And that’s always better than the promise of more flaming and hating, without understanding that life is always a system of checks and balances – that are not always between ladies and gentlemen.