The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) disclosed that its earnings for this year declined by 40 percent due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the shutdown of ABS-CBN.
The 2019 MTRCB earnings remitted to the government amounted to Php 136 million. The figures fell to at least Php 59 million as of August 2020 due to slow transactions in the movie industry.
The MTRCB explained that the number of film and program reviews from different networks has decreased. The total of submitted materials for MTRCB review has only been 149 films for this year, including 67 local and 82 foreign.
In response to the query of Senator Imee Marcos on the possibility of MTRCB to self-destruct, the agency said the industry is now gradually recovering through the establishment of drive-thru cinemas.
“We are slowly seeing the effects of it now. We don’t have offices all over the country, so it’s very difficult. The ‘Matalinong Panonood’ is really, really important but we can’t do it now because that’s the only way that we can tell the ratings and the effect of it to their children,” MTRCB Chairperson Rachel Aranas stated.
– Report from Eunice Samonte
