ABC 5 apologizes for short film censorship

By Marinel Cruz
Inquirer, Oct. 21, 2006

PEOPLE directly involved in the airing of “Guimaras: Shorts from the Oil Spill” on ABC 5’s current affairs program, “Shorts,” have apologized to independent filmmaker JP Carpio, who last week charged the network with censorship.

“I accepted their apologies wholeheartedly,” Carpio told Inquirer Entertainment in an e-mail he sent on Wednesday. “(But) the reasons for editing out portions of the film still stand as a form of censorship in my opinion.”

Carpio complained that key portions of his short film “Bunker O: Sumirib” involving the residents of Guimaras “expressing their honest feelings were censored… This destroys the very reason all the films were made—to help give Guimaras and its people a voice, to help show their perspective.”

A four-minute version of the film was aired on “Shorts” on Oct. 8, along with the works of 12 other filmmakers.

“I infer that (the reasons for editing) were sadly due to various internal and external pressures in connection with the portions mentioning Petron,” Carpio said.

(For the full story, click ABC 5 apologizes.)