The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) is eyeing to “widen” and update its jurisdiction to cover popular international video streaming services, including Netflix and Amazon.
The MTRCB board’s authority is limited only to television and movies, based on the Presidential Decree signed into law by former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr, MTRCB chairperson Diorella Maria Sotto-Antonio said during the deliberation of the agency’s 2023 budget, ABS CBN News report.
“With regards to online streamers, hindi pa siya nasasaklaw. Kaya kailangan amyehndahan ang PD 1986, if we want to include the online streamers,” Sotto-Antonio said, quoted by the report.
Even without the board’s jurisdiction over the streaming services, Netflix and Amazon Prime are reaching out to the board for coordination of their content, the MTRCB chairperson said.
In April 2022, reports said MTRCB removed the film “Uncharted” from the Philippine cinemas in response to a request from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
The DFA reportedly asked the board to re-evaluate and pull out Uncharted for containing an image of China’s nine-dash line claim, which was invalidated by an international tribunal in 2016.
“We expressed our concern about a particular film which involved the sovereignty of our country, I appreciate them so much when MTRCB informed them about this, they immediately took down that particular scene. So they do self-regulation,” Sotto-Antonio said in the ABS-CBN report.
Earlier, the Senate Committee on Finance moved to approve MTRCB’s proposed budget of P112 million for 2023. This does not include additional capital outlay or funds for additional equipment to update their monitoring services.