SC bars film on Chiong case

Sun.Star: The Supreme Court has upheld an order barring the public screening of “Butakal: Sugapa sa Laman," a movie that Thelma Chiong of the Crusade Against Violence says is based on the abduction and rape of her two daughters. The court did not say whether or not the movie depicted the Chiong chase but, in a ruling promulgated last Dec. 13, affirmed that the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) has the authority to screen, approve or disapprove the showing of a movie based on guidelines. The board, however, does not have the authority to seize the master tapes of movies that it screens beyond 20 days. The Supreme Court (SC) ordered that the original tape be returned to its director, Federico Natividad. “Butakal" was scheduled for screening in 1999, while the Chiong case was still being reviewed by the SC. Natividad, on behalf of Venus Films, filed the application for a permit to exhibit the film with the MTRCB last Aug. 25, 1999. The movie, which starred Pyar Mirasol and Via Veloso, was given an R rating and was granted a permit two days later. The movie was already scheduled for screening on Sept. 8, 1999 when Chiong, together with her husband and sister, wrote the MTRCB and asked that the showing be scrapped. They were concerned about the “brutal and lewd depictions of the rape" and stressed that “the misrepresentations were aggravated by the purely commercial motive of the producers." Besides, they argued, the case upon which the movie was based was still pending in court and the showing of the film would be sub judice. Then MTRCB chairman Armida Siguion-Reyna held a second screening of the film but said that only a restraining order from the Regional Trial Court (RTC) could stop the release. The Chiongs went to court with a civil suit for injunction. The court issued a 72-hour temporary restraining order and began hearing the case on the merits. Fearing that the court couldn’t rule on the merits fast enough, the Chiongs solicited the help of the Office of the President and succeeded in getting the MTRCB to cancel the previously issued airing permit. The RTC dismissed the civil case in an order dated Oct. 7, 1999 for forum-shopping. At the MTRCB, Natividad surrendered his master copy of the movie and, subsequently, asked for it back. The MTRCB refused, saying it had to remain with the MTRCB until after the administrative case filed by the Chiongs was terminated, as the tape was “material evidence." Prohibited from showing his film and divested of the master copy, the director, on May 12 of the same year, filed a special civil action for certiorari and mandamus with the Court of Appeals (CA). The CA denied it, saying the order of the MTRCB was merely interlocutory because the main case had yet to be resolved. Natividad elevated his case to the Supreme Court, hence the ruling. - Sun.Star