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Saturday, September 22, 2007
Movie review board ban short films on human rights violations
MANILA -- The censors' board has banned the showing of a series of short films on alleged human rights violations under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, a sister of a missing activist said Friday.
The minutes-long films depicting alleged disappearances, extrajudicial killings and torture - grouped together under the title "Rights" - were given an "X" rating by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), meaning that it can not be shown in public.
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The board issued the ban Thursday, a day before they were scheduled to be shown along with other independent films at a suburban mall.
The board said in a letter to the filmmakers that the scenes in the films were "presented unfairly, one-sided, and undermined the faith and confidence in the government and duly constituted authorities."
Peachy Burgos, the eldest sister of activist Jonas Burgos, a left-wing peasant activist who has been missing since he was allegedly abducted by soldiers five months ago, strongly criticized the decision.
"A democracy proscribes the very notion of prior censorship, but this is exactly what has happened," she said. One of her other brothers, J.L. Burgos, was one of the filmmakers.
The board said the filmmakers can appeal its decision.
The human rights group Karapatan has reported that more than 800 people, many of them left-wing activists and their supporters have been killed allegedly by state security forces since Arroyo took power in 2001. Close to 200 others have been abducted and believed to have been killed.
In a June report, the US-based Human Rights Watch accused the Philippine military of waging "a dirty war" against left-wing activists, and said the government has not prosecuted a single soldier for the killings or forced disappearances.
Two preliminary reports by a government commission that investigated killings last year and a UN human rights expert also implicated soldiers.
The military has denied any involvement in extra-judicial killings and disappearances, pointing instead to communist rebels as being responsible. (AP)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (September 22, 2007 issue)
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