DFA Requests MTRCB to Pull Out “Uncharted” from Philippine Cinemas

MANILA 27 April 2022 – The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) responded favorably to the Department’s request to re-evaluate and pullout the screening of the Sony movie “Uncharted” in Philippine cinemas following a scene containing an image of the nine-dash line maritime claims of China that is contrary to national interest and has no basis in international law.

In its 24 March 2022 letter responding to the request of the DFA, MTRCB stated that on 18 March 2022, upon confirmation that a 2-second scene depicting the nine-dash line was indeed present in the film, the regulatory body had “ordered Columbia Pictures Industries Inc. to cease and desist from exhibiting the said motion picture, unless and until they are able to remove the objectionable scenes.” MTRCB further reported that Columbia has since complied with its order and has pulled out the movie from the cinemas.

The MTRCB is committed to conducting compliance drives with stakeholders, to ensure that such images that promote and perpetuate a diminution of the Philippines’ maritime entitlements under international law do not happen again.

The nine-dash line has no basis in international law, and this has been settled in the 2016 Arbitral Award. The Arbitral Tribunal held that China’s nine-dash line has no legal basis as its accession to UNCLOS has extinguished any of its rights that it may have had in the maritime areas in the South China Sea, and it never had historic rights in the waters within the nine-dash line.

This is not the first time that the Department sought to prohibit the screening of a Hollywood movie featuring China’s nine-dash line. In 2019, the Department requested the MTRCB to pull out the DreamWorks animated feature “Abominable” after a scene showed the Chinese nine-dash line. END