After the Directors Guild of the Philippines Inc. (DGPI) and the League of Filipino Actors (AKTOR) voiced their opposition to the proposed MTRCB Act, the Filipino Screenwriters Guild (FSG) joined the chorus in echoing their sentiments about the controversial bill.
For the FSG, the Senate Bill No. 2805 is masquerading as a protection for the viewers.
“The true purpose of this bill is to give MTRCB more power to control media content, especially writers,” the FSG says.
According to FSG’s statement, “On the surface, this bill claims to ‘protect’ viewers. But what it really does is give the MTRCB more power to censor. More rules to strangle creativity. More control over which stories get told—and which get silenced.”
The Screenwriters Guild reiterated that when writers are gagged, so is society. And that each time a story is cut or banned, a piece of culture dies with it.
“Sanitizing is just censorship in disguise,” the group added.
FSG also stated that Filipino screenwriters have been underpaid, unprotected, and invisible for so long—an industry’s open secret that the lawmakers must face.
“We say: Enough.” FSG wrote.