Political Drama “Pine Gap” Ordered by MTRCB to Immediately Pull Out Episodes with China’s Illegal Nine-Dash Line

Following a complaint lodged by the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB/Board) handed down its decision dated 28 September 2021 to pull out the episodes of the political drama “Pine Gap” for showing a map of China’s nine-dash line and violating PH sovereignty.

After a thorough review, the Board ruled that certain episodes of “Pine Gap” are “unfit for public exhibition.” The MTRCB also ordered the immediate pull-out of relevant episodes by its provider, Netflix Inc, from its video streaming platform.

In its decision, the MTRCB underscored that “under a whole-of-nation approach, every instrumentality of the government, whenever presented with the opportunity, has the responsibility to counter China’s aggressive actions in the West Philippine Sea to assert the Philippines’ territorial integrity. It further noted that the portrayal of the illegal nine-dash line in Pine Gap is no accident as it was consciously designed and calculated to specifically convey a message that China’s nine-dash line legitimately exists. Such portrayal is a crafty attempt to perpetuate and memorialize in the consciousness of the present generation of viewers and the generations to come the illegal nine-dash line. Using the medium of a motion picture is but China’s unconventional approach to gain an upper hand in the territorial conflict in the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea.”

The Department of Foreign Affairs expects Netflix to comply with the ruling. END