Senator Jinggoy Estrada took a jab at the House of Representatives on Tuesday for its failure to pass a bill that would have strengthened and expanded the mandate of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).
Online streaming platforms would have been included in the MTRCB’s regulatory powers if Senate Bill No. 2805 was enacted into law.
The measure was approved by the Senate on third and final reading during the 19th Congress but its counterpart measure remained pending at the committee level in the House of Representatives.
‘So this isn’t finished yet? Nothing in the House? They’re so lazy,’ Estrada said in Filipino as he presided over the Senate subcommittee on finance’s deliberations on the proposed P221.297 million budget of the MTRCB for 2026.
The senator though noted that many industry stakeholders were also against the bill, saying it ‘impinges on a struggling film industry,’ ‘strangles creativity’ and adversely impacts ‘freedom of expression and artistic integrity.’
‘It is in this context that we shall look into your budget, together with the direction that the agency is taking with your proposed table of expenditures and programs for next year,’ Estrada said.
For 2026, MTRCB is proposing P221.297 million budget.
Of the budget proposal, Estrada noted that P165.698 million was allotted for MRTCB’s Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) and Capital Outlay which will be sourced from the board’s own revenues, and provided for under the Special Provisions.
Estrada, meanwhile, informed the MTRCB that he has filed Senate Bill No. 878 that would establish the Retained Income Fund and replace its existing sinking fund.
Under the bill filed last August, MTRCB would be allowed to retain 50 percent of its revenues to be used for its MOOE excluding payment of salaries and allowances. /cb