The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) has approved the showing of Greta Gerwig's film "Barbie" in the Philippine cinemas, which will begin on July 19.
Senator Francis Tolentino shared a letter from the MTRCB on its decision to allow the film to be screened with the media on Tuesday.
MTRCB chairperson Diorella Maria Sotto-Antonio and review committee members Maria Lourdes Choa-Fagar, Katrina Angela Ebarle, and Jennifer Seares all signed the letter.
The board watched the film and analyzed the contentious moment that sparked outrage among senators: a fictitious world map depicting Barbie's trip from Barbie Land to the real world.
Tolentino earlier said he want the film to be ban due to the controversial child's portrayal of the world's continents.
According to the Senator, the squiggly lines on the map, which depicted Barbie's path on her self-journey, correspond to Beijing's sweeping nine-dash lines,&nbsp;
The MTRCB conferred with a West Philippine Sea legal expert as well as representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Office of the Solicitor General, who all agreed that there is no nine-dash line.
It said that there was no explicit reference to China's sweeping historical claims, unlike in the films "Abominable" in 2019 and "Uncharted" in 2022, which made clear references.
The MTRCB also cited a Warner Bros. spokesperson in a Variety.com story, which stated that the contentious sequence "was not intended to make any type of statement.

Tolentino could not hide his dismay, calling the board's decision "unfortunate" on the seventh anniversary of the 2016 arbitral tribunal judgment that invalidated China's "nine-dash line."

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MTRCB allows ‘Barbie’ film screening in PH