Title
Movie and Television Review and Classification Board vs. ABC Development Corp.
Case
G.R. No. 212670
Decision Date
Jul 6, 2022
A TV5 show's hosts made threatening remarks about a public incident; MTRCB imposed penalties, but courts ruled the statements were protected speech, upholding free expression and self-regulation.

Case Summary (G.R. No. 212670)

Petitioner

The MTRCB sought to uphold its administrative decision imposing (1) a three-month suspension of T3, (2) an administrative fine of P100,000, and (3) probationary/per-episode permitting after the suspension, on the ground that the hosts’ utterances violated Section 3(c) of Presidential Decree No. 1986.

Respondent

TV5, owner and broadcaster of T3, imposed internal sanctions on the Tulfo hosts (initially a three-episode suspension, later described as suspension and potential termination) and petitioned for judicial relief, arguing that self-regulation under its franchise and constitutional free-speech protections precluded the MTRCB’s harsher penalties.

Key Dates

Relevant dates in the procedural and factual chronology include: the broadcast and MTRCB incident report (07 May 2012); TV5’s internal actions and letters (09 May 2012); MTRCB’s preventive suspension (10 May 2012) and formal decision (30 May 2012); TV5’s petitions to the Court of Appeals (May 2012) and the CA’s grant of TRO and preliminary injunction (22 Aug 2012) and decision (7 Mar 2013); CA denial of MTRCB motion for reconsideration (15 May 2014); and the Supreme Court decision affirming the CA (July 6, 2022).

Applicable Law

Primary statutory and constitutional instruments invoked: Section 3(b) and (c) of Presidential Decree No. 1986 (creating and defining MTRCB powers to screen and prohibit objectionable television content); Republic Act No. 7831 (TV5’s franchise provision on grantee self-regulation and cutting off indecent or inciting broadcasts); and the freedom of speech protections of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, which the Court applied given the decision date post-1990. Relevant precedents referenced include Iglesia ni Cristo v. Court of Appeals (1996), Soriano v. Laguardia (2009), Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, and Victoriano v. Elizalde Rope Workers Union.

Facts

On 07 May 2012, during T3’s broadcast, the Tulfo hosts made a series of statements (reproduced in the record) that included threats of physical retaliation and profane language directed at Raymart Santiago and Claudine Barretto concerning an alleged mauling of Ramon Tulfo. MTRCB special agents reported the incident; MTRCB’s Chief Legal Counsel found probable cause under Section 3(c) of PD 1986. TV5 directed the hosts to explain and received apologies; TV5 then imposed internal discipline and informed the hosts of possible termination but reduced the sanction in light of their apologies. MTRCB issued a preventive suspension and later the contested administrative decision.

Procedural History

MTRCB’s Hearing and Adjudication Committee issued a decision on 30 May 2012 imposing suspension, fine, and probation. TV5 filed a Rule 43 petition with the Court of Appeals seeking injunctive relief, and the CA granted TRO and preliminary injunction, later holding in its March 7, 2013 decision that the MTRCB’s penalties constituted unwarranted prior restraint given TV5’s self-regulation. MTRCB sought review in the Supreme Court by Rule 45; the Supreme Court denied the petition and affirmed the CA.

Court of Appeals’ Ruling (as adopted by the Supreme Court)

The CA concluded: (1) MTRCB has statutory authority to regulate broadcast content; (2) the Tulfo utterances, in context, were ordinary threats rather than obscene, indecent, conclusively defamatory, or fighting words; (3) TV5 acted appropriately in disciplining the hosts consistent with its franchise-based self-regulation; and (4) given self-regulation and free-speech protections, MTRCB’s penalties amounted to an unwarranted prior restraint and were therefore set aside.

Issue Presented

Whether the MTRCB’s determination that the Tulfo hosts’ utterances fell within Section 3(c) of PD 1986 — i.e., were objectionable as immoral, indecent, contrary to law and/or good customs, or had a dangerous tendency to encourage violence or crime — was within the Board’s purview and legally supportable.

Supreme Court’s Ruling and Overall Disposition

The Supreme Court denied MTRCB’s petition and affirmed the CA’s decision and resolution. The Court held that, while MTRCB possesses statutory authority to screen and examine all television programs under PD 1986 (Section 3(b)), the characterization of the Tulfo hosts’ remarks as falling within the prohibitions of Section 3(c) was incorrect. The Court emphasized the constitutional presumption against prior restraints on speech under the 1987 Constitution and assigned to the censoring body the burden to overcome that presumption.

Analysis of MTRCB’s Statutory Powers under PD 1986

The Court reaffirmed that PD 1986 grants the MTRCB the power to screen, review and examine all television programs and to approve, delete, or prohibit exhibition or broadcast where content is found objectionable under contemporary Filipino cultural values. However, the Court insisted that this statutory power is not unlimited: the MTRCB must apply proper tests and standards, particularly given constitutional free-speech protections and the presumption of invalidity attaching to censorship.

Freedom of Speech, Prior Restraint, and the INC Precedent

Relying on Iglesia ni Cristo v. Court of Appeals, the Court reiterated that prior restraints on speech are disfavored and that the censoring authority bears the burden of proving that restraint is necessary. The Court found that MTRCB’s literal approach, assessing the broadcasts from the vantage of an “average child,” and labeling the utterances as vulgar, indecent, threatening, defamatory and likely to encourage violence, improperly suppressed speech without satisfying the heavy burden required for prior restraint.

Fighting Words, Clear-and-Present-Danger, and the Limits of Unprotected Speech

Applying precedent (including Soriano and Chaplinsky), the Court distinguished between “fighting words” or other categories of unprotected speech — which by their utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace — and profane, vulgar, or threatening remarks between private individuals that do not amount to a clear and present danger to public order. The Court agreed with the CA that the Tulfo utterances, though profane and threatening toward an individual, did not constitute “fighting words” that would immediately threat

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