ABS-CBN apologizes for inappropriate “Pangako Sa’Yo” dialogue

Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla in “Pangako Sa’Yo” (Photo from ABS-CBN)

MANILA – In the May 29 episode of ABS-CBN teleserye “Pangako Sa’yo,” ‘vulgar language’ was purportedly used in the dialogue which prompted the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) to call the network’s attention.

In a particular scene of the episode, Eduardo Buenavista (Ian Veneracion) was protesting to his mother Benita (Pilar Pilapil) regarding his arranged marriage.

Without his knowledge, Eduardo was engaged to Claudia (Angelica Panganiban). Conversely, he was in love with someone else, Amor (Jodi Sta. Maria).

“Kung pampalipas libog lang iyan (If that is only for the desire of the flesh), that’s okay. Go ahead!” was Benita’s controversial line to her son.

The MTRCB monitoring unit got surprised and alarmed with the ‘strong-worded’ sentence, which they claimed was saying “in regard to sex and the insinuation that it is okay to use a woman for the mere purpose of satisfying one’s fleshy desires even if he is already engaged to another woman, obviously meant for a mature audience.” The line also insinuated degrading women if left unexplained to the young viewers.

Since the teleserye was rated “PG” (Parental Guidance), children under 13 years old were among the audience. The dialogue between Eduardo and his mother, however, was not appropriate for young viewers.

MTRCB then beckoned for a meeting with ABS-CBN executives to “re-visit and discuss the commitment to exert earnest efforts in exercising self-regulation and restraint.”

The “Pangako Sa’yo” production team, for their part, apologized for the inappropriate dialogue and admitted that there was indeed a lapse. They will then take concrete steps to avoid such incident from recurring.

“It will also include, as determined today, three months period of close collaboration and monitoring, exercise of self-regulation; and consult with MTRCB, if needed,” MTRCB chair Eugenio Villareal said.

The ABS-CBN management also apologized for the incident.

“ABS-CBN apologizes for the strong language used in the May 29 episode of ‘Pangako Sa ‘Yo. We recognize our responsibility to our viewers and we will work closely with the MTRCB to prevent it from happening again,” ABS-CBN Integrated Corporate Communications head Kane Errol Choa said.