GagWatch

INQ7 (via) is reporting that deposed Philippine president, Joseph Estrada, is taking legal action to compel Manila Mayor Lito Atienza to allow the showing of his banned biopic in Plaza Miranda, a designated “freedom park.”

Former Immigration Commissioner Rufus Rodriguez, one of Estrada’s legal counsels, said this would be a test case for the constitutional guarantee for free expression, particularly in the light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision upholding the right of demonstrators to air their issues in designated freedom parks, even without the mayor’s approval.

Atienza denied for the second time on Wednesday the request of Estrada’s Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino and Publikasia, producer of Estrada’s film biography, for a public exhibition and forum on the controversial newsreel, which was given an X rating by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board.

Rodriguez said they will file a petition to compel Atienza to reverse his order against the public showing of “Ang Mabuhay Para sa Masa (To Live for the Masses),” which he claims is a grave abuse of authority and violation of the constitutional guarantee of freedom of expression.

Rodriguez said Atienza’s move runs counter to the wisdom behind the creation of freedom parks under B.P. 880 as a venue for free expression and political dissent.

“The reason behind the triple-X rating which banned Estrada’s biography was political in nature,” Rodriguez asserted.

The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCD) has rated the film XXX - meaning that three members of the board gave it an X rating - which makes it “unfit for public viewing”.

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