Question & AnswerQ&A (MTRCB MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 93-017)
The main purpose is to set guidelines for the production and review of movie and television trailers to ensure that they are appropriate for a wide variety of audiences, especially impressionable minors.
Scenes showing excessive violence (e.g., frontal shooting, stabbing, torture, hostage scenes with firearms or knives threatening victims, gory blasting), drug-taking and drug abuse, explicit and/or suggestive sex acts, and obscene language are prohibited.
Examples include frontal shooting and stabbing, torture scenes, hostage scenes with firearms or knives threatening victims, gory blasting with bodies being mangled or mutilated, suicide acts like slashing wrists or putting a gun to the temple or mouth, bloody karate chops, and child abuse.
No. Trailers that, although not showing explicit scenes mentioned, still have an overall impact of violence, shall not be allowed.
Explicit and/or suggestive sexual content such as pumpings, frontal nudity, breast exposure, torrid kissing, fondling of the body, and sexual aberrations are not allowed.
Obscene language, cuss words, and double entendre words such as "shit", "fuck", "leche", "putang ina", "ulol", "gago", "tarantado", "sirang-ulo", and "walanghiya" are strictly prohibited.
Movie producers and distributors, as well as television networks that produce trailers and teasers for movies shown on television, must submit trailers and teasers for MTRCB review.
The directive took effect starting September 1, 1993.
It promotes fairness and equality in content regulation by ensuring trailers for movies shown on both cinema and television undergo the same review standards to protect audiences, particularly minors.
The MTRCB Chairman, as the head of the board, officially adopts and issues these guidelines as binding rules for the production and review of movie and television trailers.