The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) has promised Senator Robin Padilla it will not allow the showing in the Philippines of the film "Plane" due to the bad image it portrayed about the country.

Padilla said on Saturday that he received a commitment from MTRCB officials led by chairperson Diorella Sotto, when they met at his Senate office on Friday.

"Yes, they told me they have talked to the film's Philippine distributor. And now, we want to write the producers of the film," Padilla said in an interview on DWIZ, when asked if he received a commitment from the MTRCB not to allow the showing of the film in the Philippines.

Padilla also thanked Sotto for her promise to call the attention of the film's Philippine distributor. He said he explained to Sotto his reasons for calling for a ban on the Philippine showing of the film.

In his manifestation last Feb. 15 in the Senate, Padilla condemned the bad image of the Philippines in "Plane". He referred to the film showing Jolo is controlled by rebels, with government forces no longer there.

Padilla noted the film's bad image of the Philippines comes at a time the Philippines is trying to revive its tourism after the pandemic.

Padilla also voiced concern over the film's portrayal of Jolo residents as siding with the terrorists.

"If the producers of the film claim it is fiction, they should not have said the story happened in the Philippines," he said.

In a separate interview on SMNI on Friday, Padilla reiterated he cannot keep quiet on the matter because he chairs the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media.

''I cannot keep quiet. And I call on you not to side with the foreigners when our country is being attacked like this. Where is our sense of nationalism when our image is being attacked)?" he said.

Padilla also said he wants to give the MTRCB the mandate to issue guidelines where films that may damage the Philippines' reputation not be shown here.

" One condition to consider is that the film should not damage the Philippines' reputation," he said. Office of Senator Robin Padilla