Plane poster starring Gerard Butler and Mike Colter. Image from its Facebook page
MANILA, Philippines — The distributor of the movie “Plane” has voluntarily pulled out the film from the Philippines, the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) revealed on Thursday.
MTRCB chairperson Diorella Maria Sotto-Antonio shared the development during the Senate committee on public information and mass media hearing, which Senator Robin Padilla chairs.
Padilla earlier sought the MTRCB’s ban on the Hollywood film starring Gerard Butler, claiming that it puts the Philippines in a bad light. He said during the hearing that even if the movie is a work of fiction, fellow Muslims would not accept it because it suggests that people of Jolo are terrorists.
“Bagamat ito po ay fiction, kami po ay naririto para mag-reevaluate at mag-reexamine ng materyal. We are doing that. We are in the process of reexamining,” Sotto-Antonio said.
(While this is fiction, we are here to reevaluate and reexamine the material. We are doing that. We are in the process of reexamining.)
“While we were in the process, ang (the) distributor po ng nasabing pelikula na (of the said film), the Plane, ay nag-volunteer (volunteered). They voluntarily pulled out the film already,” she added.
The MTRCB chairperson stressed that they are taking the concerns of the public, especially legislators, seriously.
While “Plane” was filmed in Puerto Rico, the movie was set in Jolo, Sulu, in which a band of militiamen attacked airplane passengers after an emergency landing in the area. EDV