‘Very impractical’: Drilon opposes MTRCB regulation of Netflix, streaming platforms

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said on Friday, September 4, that he is strongly opposed to the plan of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) to regulate streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. 

Drilon said in a statement that the streaming platforms should just be allowed to continue self-regulating their content. 

“I am opposed to it. Instead of regulating Netflix and other streaming platforms, MTRCB should continue to allow them and other media to self-regulate content,” he said.

The senator also noted that the plan is “very impractical.”

“There are thousands of shows on Netflix alone – how will MTRCB review each one? Can the MTRCB review every single content that can be accessed through the internet? What will they do about virtual private networks (VPN) that allow users to access content from other countries?” he asked.

Drilon made the statement a day after MTRCB legal chief Jonathan Presquito said the agency must regulate content made available in the Philippines on video-on-demand platforms like Netflix, iFlix, and Amazon Prime if it is to fulfill its mandate under the law.

Drilon, however, said Netflix’s self-regulation mechanisms may even be more effective than the MTRCB regulation or classification system for TV.

The senator noted that Netflix ratings are “very specific,” and that upon subscription, parents can control the content that their children can view. This feature is not available on free TV, he added. 

“If the platform is able to effectively self-regulate and has installed features through which access, particularly by certain age groups, can be limited, then there is no role left for the MTRCB to play,” Drilon said.

He said that the MTRCB “has been institutionalized as a tool for censorship.”

“It should focus its efforts on being an instrument to improve the quality of content being produced, instead of being a tool for censorship,” Drilon said.

“I’d like to believe that the industry today has achieved the maturity that PD 1986 sought to see. They can ably self-regulate their content,” he added. 

The MTRCB was created in 1985 through Presidential Decree 1986 to help the movie and television industry that was then “on the brink of economic collapse.” PD 1986 said that the regulatory body “must not only function in reviewing and censoring films or television programs…but must also initiate the plans and cooperate with the industry to improve, upgrade, and make viable the industry as one source of fueling the national economy.”

Drilon, a former justice secretary, also noted that the Constitution prohibits censorship on content, which is tantamount to prior restraint and infringes on the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech and expression.

He said that while the Supreme Court had upheld the power of the MTRCB to regulate and even impose some prior restraint on radio and television shows, “the environment through which these streaming services operate is much different than television and radio.” 

‘Mind-boggling foolishness’

Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano also questioned the plan, calling it “foolishness.”

“Kung ireregulate ‘nyo ang Netflix, isama ‘nyo na ang HBO, Amazon Prime, iFlix. Kayo na maging censors ng buong mundo. Pero saan kayo kukuha ng budget at sino ang sususod sa inyo?” he said at the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) presentation on the proposed 2021 budget at the House of Representatives

(If you will regulate Netflix, might as well include HBO, Amazon Prime, iFlix. You be the censors of the whole world. But where will you get your budget and who will follow you?)

“If you want to help and go beyond your mandate, help the industry complete with K-drama and K-wave. But to add power to regulate without a valid reason causes commotion that’s unnecessary,” Cayetano added in a mix of English and Filipino.

Cayetano said in a statement that the fact that Netflix and other online content are beyond the jurisdiction of the MTRCB “makes this even more mind-boggling.”

He said that PD 1986 limited the scope of MTRCB powers to “motion pictures, television programs and commercials intended for public exhibition in theaters and television.”

“There is no Netflix in that law. That’s because this law was crafted before the commercial use of the internet – and that medium has since grown by leaps and bounds,” Cayetano said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Deputy Speaker LRay Villafuerte also slammed the MTRCB for tinkering with “regulatory overstretch.” – Rappler.com