NEWSFLASH

POLICE WANT ASSUNTA MOVIE BANNED

Quezon City, Aug. 1, 2001 - The Philippine National Police yesterday appealed to Malacanang to review the movie "Red Dairies" for allegedly depicting policemen as "very bad guys" in one of its three episodes.

PNP chief Director General Leandro Mendoza said the movie was "another unwarranted exploitation of the police institution, and the men and women representing it."

"We are deeply concerned about the negative portrayal of policemen by some characters in the movie," Mendoza said in a statement.

"Red Diaries" is a three-episode film showing the lives of three different characters as portrayed by sexy star Assunta de Rossi.

Episode one (titled Susana) is a sex-comedy where Assunta plays a mistress whose "sugar daddy" dies and becomes the mistress of the dead man's brother.

In the second part, (Cara), a romantic drama, Assunta portrays a balikbayan from Europe who becomes the love interest of a seminarian, who later decides to leave the seminary for her.

The third episode, (Lucilla), which irked the National Police, is a violent sex-drama wherein Assunta plays the battered wife of a corrupt policeman.

She manages to escape through the help of friends, but is caught later. His husband takes revenge by letting her to be gang-raped by five policemen.

The PNP chief said they cannot afford to be typecast as "villains before the eyes of the public, whether in real life or on the silver screen."

"Unless something is done by its producers to correct the situation, the PNP shall exhaust all available legal means to prevent its showing," Mendoza said.

Earlier, Director Thompson Lantion for PNP Community Relations, appealed to the Movie and Television Rating and Classification Board to review the film before a "permit to exhibit" could be issued.

The movie started to run in Metro Manila theaters yesterday.

MTRCB chairman Alejandro Roces said the film has been reviewed twice. It was approved with an R-18 classification.

"Under the law, after the film has been approved by the board, and its (the film) permit to exhibit has been issued, the Board can no longer recall the same unless a violation of PD 1986 (the law creating the MTRCB) has been committed by said movie," Roces said in his letter-reply to Lantion dated July 27.

Roces added the board loses jurisdiction over the film after the issuance of a permit to exhibit. Malacanang has the sole power to order for a review, he added.