MTRCB suspends 'T3'

The Kapatid network is “deeply concerned” by the decision of the Movie and Television Review Classification Board to suspend their public affairs program “T3: Kapatid, Sagot Kita” for 20 days.

The suspension came after “T3” hosts Erwin, Raffy, and Ben Tulfo aired no-holds barred statements in their program on Monday, May 8 against Raymart Santiago and Claudine Barreto after the celebrity couple was involved in an airport scuffle incident with Ramon “Mon” Tulfo.

Ramon is the older brother of “T3” hosts Erwin, Raffy, and Ben.

In a statement sent to Yahoo! Philippines OMG! and other media outfits on Thursday, May 10, TV5 said: “News5 is deeply concerned by the MTRCB decision to place its Public Service program T3 under preventive suspension.

“We believe that this oversteps the mandate of the MTRCB, and sets it on a path could threaten the independence and freedom of the broadcast industry.

“Self-regulatory mechanisms internal to the organization and instituted within the industry and to which TV5 subscribes were in place, enforced, and ultimately effective in disciplining programs host Ben, Raffy, and Erwin Tulfo.”

“MTRCB’s action of placing T3 under preventive suspension raises the question of what else, other than the disciplining of the anchors, the government aims to achieve. The Tulfos have been sanctioned. What else is there for government to resolve? A preventive suspension suggests that the continued broadcast of the program would constitute a danger to the viewing public.

“There is no such danger. T3 was conceptualized, produced, and ultimately classified as news and public service program. For MTRCB to even consider or suggest by its actions that T3 has suddenly lost all its purpose and value, or worse, poses a danger to the public such that it warrants censorship, sets a dangerous tone and could potentially lead to a dangerous precedent for all news programs.”

TV5 suspended the brothers of Mon Tulfo from the show on Wednesday May 9, at 5 PM.

Meanwhile, in an interview with the ABS-CBN News Channel on Thursday, May 10, TV5 President Ray Espinosa questioned the legality of the suspension.

“We want to emphasize that the errors or the misbehavior of a talent must be treated separately from a news program or a platform,”Espinosa said. “Talents are dealt with in accordance with the codes of ethics of each of the networks, but a news program cannot be suspended by MTRCB as a regulator.”

In Interaksyon’s report of the network’s reaction to MTRCB’s order, TV5 president and CEO Ray C. Espinosa said that they will be taking MTRCB to court to secure a temporary restraining order (TRO) on MTRCB’s suspension of the show. – With reports from Jozza Palaganas