A film opens with a torture scene- a man is tied to a chair, insisting his innocence while his captors force him to confess that he is a communist. Less than a minute later, the film ends with a dim lit, out of focus, skewed shot of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's framed picture hanging on a wall. The film ends suggesting that the torturing is not over.

The film, titled "Unang Araw" (DAY 1), was based on the experience of Berlin Guerrero, an activist-pastor abducted and tortured by military men on suspicion of being a top ranking communist leader. It is one of the three films Southern Tagalog Exposure [STeXPOSURE] produced as part of a collection of public service advertisements titled "RIGHTS." An initiative of the Free Jonas Burgos Movement and STExposure, RIGHTS seeks to promote awareness on the continuing human rights abuses, extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances in the country.

On Sep18, three days before it's scheduled premiere at Robinson's Galleria Indiesine, RIGHTS was given an X rating by the MTRCB, effectively banning any form of public exhibition. The MTRCB thinks the films in the collection are "unfair, one-sided, and undermines the faith of the people in the government and duly constituted authorities.

The MTRCB wanted to end these films while the torturing, the killings and disappearances continue. Reminiscent of Martial Law, the administration now resorts to the censoring of films expressing critical views in the same manner that silences activists and others who air their legitimate grievances.

In more than six years since President Arroyo came to power in January 2001, almost 900 cases of extrajudicial killings, and 200 cases of enforced disappearances have been documented. The victims include peasants, workers, lawyers, church people, journalists and other professionals, and many other members of legal and progressive, activist organizations. All of these cases are left unresolved and no punitive action has been undertaken by the Arroyo administration.

STeXPOSURE is no stranger to human rights violations. Some of our members have been victims of it themselves. In April 21, 2003, "Unang Araw" director King Catoy, along with 5 other members of a fact finding team was abducted by suspected military men in Mindoro Oriental. The following day Catoy was released but his video and SLR cameras were taken, while the two others who led the team- human rights leader Eden Marcellana and peasant leader Eddie Gumanoy - were found dead.

A similar incident happened three years later to two more members of the organization. Teta Tulay and Bong de Leon were also filming a fact finding mission in Catanuan, Quezon, when they were illegally arrested and detained by elements of the 74th Infantry Battalion. De Leon was punched several times and accused of being a sniper of the New People's Army (probably because like a sniper, he looks through a scope-like viewfinder with his camera). They were released the following day after the military failed in pressing rebellion charges against them. Though no one was killed this time, the military similarly forcibly took their video and SLR cameras.

We believe that the killings, disappearances and human rights abuses are not incidental, nor are they a result of "purging" within the left as claimed by top officials of the military. The Arroyo administration is ruling with an undeclared Martial Law and it is determined to suppress any form of dissent. Further proof of this is the implementation of policies such as Calibrated Preemptive Response, Executive Order 464 and the declaration of a State of National Emergency in February of 2006 or PP1017. Now, it attempts to suppress filmmakers with an MTRCB provision that was created during Martial Law.

We do not contest the MTRCB's statement that our films are one-sided. They are, indeed, one-sided, as all any other artworks. In our case, we take the side of the victims, the oppressed and the disadvantaged.

They say that our films are unfair. What is unfair is the fact that the government has direct access to the media and runs two broadcast TV networks which it can use to trumpet its side, while independent filmmakers struggle with meager resources to express their views only to be censored and hence silenced.

Finally, they say that our films undermine the faith of the people in the government and duly constituted authorities. In reality, it is the Arroyo administration which is undermining the so called democratic system in this country by silencing anyone who opposes it. It is the Arroyo administration who is undermining the people's already tainted faith in the government.

Production of films like Unang Araw and all the other films in RIGHTS will not end as long as there are human rights violations.

STeXPOSURE will continue in producing films that expose and oppose the injustices of the ruling system!