Digong’s SMNI show suspended

The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board has placed two shows of the Sonshine Media Network International, or SMNI, under a two-week suspension for possible content violations.

The MTRCB slapped a 14-day preventive suspension against the shows "Gikan Sa Masa, Para Sa Masa" and "Laban Kasama ang Bayan," hosted by then-President Rodrigo Duterte and Jeffrey "Ka Eric" Celiz and Lorraine Badoy, respectively.

The shows' suspension, effective 18 December, is to stave off further violations allegedly committed by the network and to "protect the interest and welfare of the public."

"Upon careful review and consideration of recent events and complaints received by the Board, it was found that certain aspects of the abovementioned programs may have violated the established guidelines and standards set by Presidential Decree No. 1986 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations governing broadcasting content," the board said.

Duterte's death threat remark against ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro aired on 11 October in his program "Gikan sa Masa, Para sa Masa" had received a pile of complaints that led to the temporary cease of the show, the MTRCB said.

The "Laban Kasama ang Bayan" is likewise covered by the suspension after it aired a false report that Speaker Martin Romualdez incurred a whooping P1.8 billion travel expense, which House Secretary-General Reginald Velasco debunked, saying the chamber's travel expenses, including Romualdez, from January 2023 to October 2023, amounted to only P39.6 million.

Apart from allegedly airing death threats and unverified news content, the MTRCB suspended the shows for allegedly using profane language.

Badoy said the MTRCB's order "doesn't make sense."

"Our anti-CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines) program… has been given a two-week suspension by the MTRCB for us asking if it were true that the Speaker's travel expenses are 1.8 billion because we didn't verify. Does that even make sense? We were asking for verification," Badoy said.

"And when was it ever wrong to ask our officials to give us a clear accounting?" she asked.