TV5 to seek TRO against preventive suspension of ‘T3’

Rey Espinosa, TV5's president and CEO. INQUIRER file photo

MANILA, Philippines – TV 5 will seek a temporary restraining order against the enforcement of a 20-day preventive suspension directive by the Movie Television Classification and Review Board (MTRCB) on the news program anchored by the brothers of Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist and radio host Mon Tulfo, Rey Espinosa, the network’s president and CEO, said Thursday.

In a live interview over TV5, Espinosa said the MTRCB ruling on “T3” was a “violation of the Constitution” and an “assault on press freedom”. The show is anchored by Erwin, Raffy and Ben Tulfo. The three used the program on Monday to threaten Raymart Santiago and his wife, Claudine Barretto, who figured in a brawl with their eldest brother at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport the day before.

A YouTube video of the incident showed the Santiagos and their friends ganging up on Tulfo who was caught taking pictures of Claudine as she berated a ground crew of Cebu Pacific which failed to inform them of their baggage that was off loaded from the plane on their trip back to Manila from Boracay.

“The decision of the MTRCB to place T3 under preventive suspension is questionable and raises doubts on the motive of the government,” Espinosa said in Filipino.

“It is saddening because this violates the Constitution and freedom of the press because it has no jurisdiction over a public service program,” Espinosa said.

He said TV5 has called its lawyers to ask the court for a TRO against the MTRCB directive.

In the meantime, Espinosa said the station would respect the MTRCB order pending the ruling of the court.

He reiterated that TV5 suspended the Tulfos for three days starting Wednesday from appearing in all of their radio and TV programs on the network following an internal investigation of the circumstances surrounding the incident on “T3”.