The MTRCB Has Banned the Talk Show of a Licensed Sex Therapist from Airing
If you’re a regular Esquire reader, you already know we’re not fans of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB). The agency that essentially acts as the state censor of traditional broadcast media has, time and again, proven that it is stuck in the past and has taken its role as supposed vanguard of decency and morality a bit too far.
Last week, the MTRCB pulled the plug on the show Private Convos with Doc Rica, a TV talk show centered on sex and relationship issues, claiming it violates the agency’s rating guidelines. The show, which airs on the One News cable TV channel, supposedly aired a program that “purely appeals to prurient interest.”
“In the exercise of its regulatory powers, the MTRCB hereby prohibits the television program ‘Private Convos with Doc Rica’ from exportation, copying, distribution, sale, lease, exhibition, and/or television broadcast in all media platforms within the jurisdiction of the MTRCB, commencing from the finality of this decision,” it said.
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“After a thorough examination of the case, including a comprehensive analysis of the position papers submitted by the Respondents, the Board determined that the respondent ‘Private Convos with Doc Rica’ television program format involved detailed discussions of guests’ sexual awakenings, leading to explicit narrations of intimate experiences, and employed language deemed unsuitable for broadcasting,” the MTRCB added.
The agency also said that several concerned parents also filed complaints against Private Convos with Doc Rica, claiming that it went overboard with its choice of topics and language, including explicit terms such as ‘self-masturbation, anal sex, and oral sex.’
Specifically, in the September 6, 2024 host Doc Rica Cruz asked about her guests’ sexual awakening. The episode reportedly contained explicit terms such as ‘self-masturbation, anal sex, and oral sex.”
The decision comes months after the MTRCB’s monitoring and inspection unit (MIU) submitted an incident report to the agency’s chairperson Lala Sotto, alleging that Private Convos with Doc Rica had discussions on sexual experiences and fantasies, including the use of inappropriate language.
“We unequivocally denounce any blatant disregard for the law,” MTRCB Chair Lala Soto said. “With the freedom to broadcast content comes a responsibility. We implore broadcasters and content providers to be circumspect and responsible in their creative processes, acknowledging the profound influence that on-screen content holds.”
Doc Rica, who graduated with a Masters and PhD in Economics from Ateneo De Manila University and went on to obtain her professional license as a therapist from the University of Guelph in Canada, did not immediately respond to the MTRCB’s decision to ban her show. She did however, tell Esquire Philippines that she plans to continue to advocate for proper and appropriate sex education in the country primarily through her new app called Unprude, which was launched last year.
It's a sad day for the Philippines when even a doctor medically trained to respond to sex and sexual issues is muzzled. Doc Rica’s advocacy of spurring frank, honest and open conversations about sex will never gain traction when agencies like the MTRCB continue to live in the dark ages, arbitrarily passing judgment on contentious issues and choosing to stifle free and educated discussions on sex and sexuality. We’ll never advance as a society when sex talk—any kind of sex talk—is automatically deemed malicious and inappropriate by closed-minded censors.
