DreamWorks Animation’s Abominable has drawn calls for boycotts and censorship in Southeast Asia, because it shows a map of China with maritime claims that the country’s neighbors dispute.
Zamboanga Sibugay Rep. Ann Hofer, chairperson of the House Committee on Foreign Relations, said Filipino moviegoers have apparently “decided on the question of whether the film deserves attention.” Hofer said the movie had already been “pulled out of theaters due to poor viewership.”
“Consistent with the landmark 2016 Hague ruling, I support the call of DFA Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. for the producers of the film ‘Abominable’ to cut scenes that portray the now invalidated ‘nine-dash line,” explained Hofer. Aghast at the film that featured a map of the South China Sea with China’s nine-dash line claim, Locsin called for a universal boycott” of all films made by its producer, Dreamworks.
But Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, a senior member of the Foreign Relations panel, said the movie has no effect on the Philippine’s strong claim over the contested territories.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, in a rare rebuke of China earlier this year, told the country to lay off an island in the disputed waters. Manila has also protested the presence of more than 200 Chinese vessels near the area.
Source: MANILA BULLETIN
