KARAPATAN denounces the X-rating classification given by the Movie, Television Ratings and Classification Board (MTRCB), during its first review, to award-winning documentary film “Alipato at Muog” by Jose Luis “JL” Burgos about the abduction and disappearance of his brother, activist Jonas Burgos in April 2007.

The X-rating, which prohibits the film’s viewing in commercial theaters nationwide is but the latest attempt by the Philippine government to evade State accountability for Jonas Burgos’ abduction and disappearance. In an earlier statement, National Security Council spokesperson Jonathan Malaya had discredited the film, saying it was an attempt to revive an “old case.”

This is not the first form of persecution that JL Burgos has had to endure. Film makers, including Burgos, were viciously red-tagged and dragged into the so-called Red October destabilization scheme concocted by then NTF-ELCAC spokesperson Antonio Parlade because of a documentary he had made about the opposition press under Marcos Sr.’s martial law regime.

The so-called Red October plot was an effort by Parlade and his ilk to vilify in one fell swoop practically every person who has expressed opinions contrary to the State’s repressive policies. JL Burgos, in fact, met with United Nations Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression Irene Khan this year to recount his ordeal.

Obviously, in the case of “Alipato at Muog,” the powers that be are again desperate to prevent public viewing of a film that tells the truth about the crime of enforced disappearance with such depth, and goes beyond Jonas Burgos’ abduction but that of many other activists as well. Military officials have been named in the documentary, including current National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, as among those who are accountable for the disappearance of Jonas Burgos.

This latest example of State censorship is a blatant affront to freedom of expression under the Marcos Jr. regime.

KARAPATAN stands solidly behind film maker JL Burgos and the Burgos family in the fight to have the X-rating on “Alipato at Muog” lifted. It is in firm solidarity with all cultural workers in their struggle against all manner and form of censorship and violation of freedom of expression.