The real villain

NO HOLDS BARRED

The real villain
Armida Siguion-Reyna

Preparing to settle into watching yet another session of Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Renato Corona’s impeachment trial, I get information about proposed House Resolution 2140, “expressing the sense of the House of Representatives to appeal to the local TV and movie industry to minimize, prevent, or stop typecasting congressmen and congresswomen as villains or crooks in movies and television telenovelas, in order not to create stereotypes or negative public perception against members of the House of Representatives,” authored by Rep. Aurelio “Dong” Gonzales Jr., first term representative of the third district of Pampanga.

I first believe it a joke.

But I get a soft copy of the proposal through e-mail, with parts stating that “Whereas, as the people’s representatives, majority of the congressmen and congresswomen do their best to bring excellent public service to their constituents; Whereas, there have been a few congressmen who may have been involved in crimes but these are the exceptions, rather than the rule; Whereas despite the good deeds done by many, congresspersons are often portrayed as villains in movies and telenovelas; Whereas, these portrayals are unfair and at the very least, sully the good name of honorable congressmen and congresswomen who work hard for the welfare of their constituents; Whereas, these negative typecastings influence the general public, especially the young children, into forming a negative impression about the members of the House of Representatives.”

It is for real, and has been referred to the House Committee on Public Information, chaired by Rep. Ben Evardone.

So I have text messages sent out on my behalf, asking for reactions. Busy with the ongoing, almost-daily hearings at the Senate, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada says he hasn’t read the resolution yet. Sen. Chiz Escudero quips, “Batu-bato sa langit, di ako tinatamaan…”

Bayan party-list Rep. Teddy Casiño is somewhat amused: “May ganun? Funny naman. Talo pa nila ang evil witch sa Snow White who allowed her magic mirror to be honest.”

Two film directors react. Joel Lamangan, with “That’s stupid!” And Joey Reyes, “Maybe the congressmen should be the first to give justifiable reason to stop the typecasting. Let’s start with Dumb-ass _____!” You supply the name. Clue: What politician’s name rhymes with dumb-ass?

Staunch anti-censor, poet, screenplay writer and salinawit expert Pete Lacaba, incredulous there is such a proposed resolution, goes, “Dapat hindi muna sila villains in real life, hindi corrupt, hindi abusado at hindi bobo para hindi sila ma-i-depict na gano’n sa telebisyon at sa pelikula.”

“Na-high blood ang byuti ko,” responds Marra Lanot, Pete’s wife, poet and present Movie and Television Review and Classification Board member. “Ano ba iyon? Feeling Diyos? Huwag na lang kaya mag-portray ng kahit anong villain sa movies!”

“That’s censorship!” Joanne Maglipon, current Appeals Committee of the MTRCB member is apoplectic. “Worse, because they want to thwart THOUGHT itself, even before it can be EXPRESSED! They actually want to legislate that?!? No wonder they’re perceived as villains by the public, which is what these venues of expression end up reflecting. Ayusin nila ang realidad, hindi nila kailanman proproblemahin ang imaging.”

MTRCB Chair Grace Llamanzares finds HR 2140 “alarming and worrisome,” since “even if a House resolution does not have the force of the law, a passed resolution is an official stand of Congress, which is undeniably a powerful branch of government that can set precedents. (It) goes against freedom of expression and speech (as) enshrined in our constitution’s bill of rights, (and) the very foundation of our democracy. Although it is the right of members of congress to safeguard their reputation and welfare, their primary responsibility is to uphold the constitutional rights of the public.

Llamanzares adds, “HR 2140 is too specific and exclusive in favoring a specific sector or group which, in this case, are the members of the House of Representatives alone. What about other sectors of society, like the law enforcement groups or those belonging to the Judiciary and Executive branches? If such a resolution is upheld, a domino effect will take place, the implication of which will undoubtedly justify censorship.”

Indeed.

To my knowledge, law enforcement groups have twice attempted for similar exemption from being depicted as kontrabida. The first was in 1998, soon after my appointment to the MTRCB, under the presidency of Joseph Ejercito Estrada. The Philippine National Police, then under now Sen. Panfilo Lacson, requested for a dialog with my office. I personally went to that meeting, gave my opinion on the matter, in no unflinching terms. That was pretty much it; they did not forward their proposal to sympathetic friends in the lower house, for drafting into bill form.

The pulis came out with yet another effort in the first quarter of 2009, this time asking the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP), the Directors’ and Actors’ Guilds, to hire them “consultants” in the writing and production of film and television scripts, for them to be able to improve their image somewhat. Again, nothing came out of that.

And so shall it be for the HR now on hand.

To be fair, the author of the resolution seems aware he can’t just ram his wish on us all, as the last paragraph of his proposal appear to indicate, after acknowledging that the “issue is covered by the constitutionaly guaranteed freedom of speech and of expression.”

“Now be it resolved by the House, as it is hereby resolved, to appeal to the local tv and movie industry to minimize, prevent, or stop typecasting congressmen and congresswomen as villains or crooks in movies and television telenovelas, in order not to create stereotypes or negative public perception against members of the House of Representatives.”

Seriously.

The title of the resolution is how it ends.

No sound, no fury. It’s as if whoever wrote it knew that nothing was going to come out of it anyway, so that’s all there is to it: An appeal, and nothing but. Why it was written in the first place, no one can say. What the committee on public information does about this, again, no one can say. We are, after all, in the great land of baka lang makalusot.

Still, it’s good to know that whenever freedom of expression is threatened, the Lamangans and the Reyeses, the Lacabas and the Lanots, the Maglipons and the Llamanzareses have not given up.

As I, too, never will.

Meanwhile, I go back to watching the impeachment proceedings. Will the real villain stand up?

(For comments, write to armida114@yahoo.com)