Two House panels have formed a technical working group that will review proposals to abolish the Philippines Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).

A statement posted on the House of Representatives Web site said Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante. Jr will chair the group, which was created by the committees on Public information and Government Reorganization. The group will reconcile provisions in House Bills 2294 and 3584, which propose to do away with the MTRCB and amend Presidential Decree 1986, which created the body.

Abante, author of HB 2294, said his bill aims to replace the 30-member MTRCB board with a 30-member committee that will review and classify motion picture, television and cable television materials. Policy-making, meanwhile, will be done by another 10-member Commission, he said.

The MTRCB has not shown a determined, positive and sustained effort to exercise and uphold its powers, and it is of public knowledge that programs which are considered immoral, indecent, contrary to law and/or good customs continued unabated to the detriment of the people, Abante said.

Citing surveys, Abante said many crimes against chastity, persons and property have been committed due to the influence of certain media continuously being shown and sold in the country.

TPakistan has banned screening of the film Shoot On Sight, an Indian production in which a Pakistani portrays a terrorist.

Meanwhile attendance in Pakistani cinemas screening Bollywood movies has dropped by almost 75% in the wake of tensions between the countries post Mumbai terror attacks.

Acing on a directive from the culture ministry, Pakistan's censor board banned the screening of director Jag Mundhra's film, which is based on the impact of the July 7, 2005 London bombings on Muslims.

The censor board has cancelled the certificate it issued on November 11 for the screening of Shoot On Sight, in which Pakistani actor Mikaal Zulifqar plays a terrorist. The film's release was delayed for several weeks because a Pakistani actor plays a terrorist in it.

The film revolves around Tariq Ali, a Muslim police officer at Scotland Yard who is tasked to investigate the police shooting of a suspected Muslim terrorist in London. Ali is distrusted by his superiors and by fellow Muslims. Shot entirely in London, the movie also stars Gulshan Grover, Laila Rouass and Greta Scacchi.

South Korean record shops have had a special section since 1997, in accordance with the Youth Protection Law. This section contains music that Cannot Be Purchased by Those Under 19.

Korean authorities categorize albums that contain songs with what they consider sensational or lewd material as albums that shouldn’t be sold to people under 19.

Record companies are obliged to attach special labels, and record shops have to set up a separate area for those records.

Just last month, the Commission on Youth Protection, under the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs, categorized TVXQ’s Mirotic and Rain’s Rainism as harmful material for youths, along with 108 other recent songs.

Rainism, a song by influential pop star Rain was rated harmful to youths for its alleged reference to a penis. The lyrics that troubled the commission’s radar were my magic stick that is rolling in your trembling body. The members of the commission reckon the magic stick symbolizes a penis.

Since its launch in November 2006, the commission has passed the same verdict on 926 Korean songs, 529 so far this year, which is 50 percent more than last year.

The Korea Media Rating Board began to rate songs in 1999 in line with the revised Youth Protection Law. The job was transferred to the Commission on Youth Protection in 2006.

The songs categorized as harmful materials for young people cannot be broadcast before 10 p.m. If they are not labelled according to the law, the record producers or music shop owners face fines or even imprisonment.