Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) chairperson Grace Poe Llamanzares announced the voluntary inhibition of all the members of the Hearing and Adjudication Committee following TV5's claims of alleged partiality.According to a statement posted on MTRCB's website, Llamanzares will form a new roster of committee members to decide on the alleged abuse of six-year-old Jan-Jan Suan, who performed what was seen as a sexually suggestive dance number in "Willing Willie's" March 12 episode.
Llamanzares further maintained that the Board will continue to work on the swift resolution of the case which "will be guided by established facts and the law."
Meanwhile, TV5's legal counsel ACCRA Law earlier noted in a network statement to Yahoo! OMG! Philippines that three panel members of the committee have close ties with rival network ABS-CBN. This affiliation with ABS-CBN, according to the statement, poses a conflict of interest.
In the statement, TV5 also questioned the authority of MTRCB to hear the alleged child abuse case. The TV5 legal team stressed that the MTRCB has no jurisdiction on the subject matter because "child abuse" is criminal in nature and should be heard by competent courts.
TV5 also stressed that similar dance numbers like that of Jan-Jan were allowed to air in the rival network.
The network also emphasized in the press release that the online videos appearing on Youtube and Facebook were "edited" to make the incident appear distasteful, "deliberately" putting 'Willing Willie' and Willie Revillame "in a bad light." The entire "Wiltime Bigtime" segment that featured Jan-Jan lasted for 48 minutes while the video circulating through the social media platforms was only ten minutes.
TV5 maintained that Jan-Jan was simply "emoting" while dancing and that his tears were caused by the "intimidating presence" of former professional basketball player Bonel Balingit and the fact that Jan jan also lost in the segment's game portion.
On Jan-Jan's controversial "macho dance" routine, TV5 maintained that the dance was not obscene nor sexually suggestive. The statement said such movements or "body wave" is similar to dance moves like "lambada," bellydancing" or the "spaghetti" dance. They added that "body wave" is already part of Philippine pop culture.
In the end, TV5 asked MTRCB to include all networks and KBP in the inquiry or investigation process should the board impose or formulate new regulations on the appearance of minors in television programs.
