Supreme Court asked to lift ban on film on 'Imelda'
By MERCEDES RULLAN
TODAY Reporter
Imelda producer Ramona Diaz asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to lift the temporary restraining order of the Regional Trial Court of Makati City against the showing of the documentary on the widow of the late dictator, Imelda Marcos.
Diaz, who owns Unitel Pictures, said Judge Cristina Cornejo gravely erred in issuing the order. It was issued on June 24.
“Recourse to this tribunal is necessitated by the brazen and stark violation of the Constitution by public respondent when she enjoined exhibition of a documentary film entitled Imelda on the ground that it will ‘elicit unfavorable comments’ about Imelda Romualdez Marcos.”
She lamented that the ban included the scheduled press preview. “In effect, even members of the press were disallowed from watching the film.”
She argued that such a ban is “abusive, inexcusable, and wrongful exercise of public respondent’s restraining powers” that is also “an assault not only on the liberty of the press but on the very bedrock of democratic government.”
Marcos also invoked her right of privacy but Unitel said Marcos had already waived her right to privacy when she signed a personal release to ADITYA Pictures in 1996, which also made a movie in San Francisco, California, based on her life.
In addition, the Marcos widow’s claim to privacy “is baseless since she is a public figure and was the wife of the President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos for 20 years, was a Metro Manila governor and minister of Human Settlements during her husband’s time, and was also an elected congressman of Leyte province.”
The Movie Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) has reviewed and approved the documentary with a classification of General Patronage.