Sen. Tolentino: 9-dash line in ‘Barbie’ movie ‘injurious’ to PH prestige

Senator Francis Tolentino on Wednesday warned the depiction of China’s nine-dash line over the South China Sea in the upcoming fantasy comedy film “Barbie” is injurious to the Philippines’ prestige.
A scene in the movie shows a map with the nine-dash line, a representation of the territorial claims of China in the busy waterway that conflicts with territorial claims of the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries.
“Allowing the local screening of the motion picture… would not just be injurious to the Republic of the Philippines but would be contrary to what our country fought for and achieved under that Arbitral Ruling in 2016,” added Tolentino, the vice-chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
“What that effect would be? Something that would dilute our sovereignty,” he noted.
Earlier, Tolentino urged the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) to block the upcoming screening of the Barbie movie, produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, after the film’s digital illustration of a scene with the nine-dash line, China’s basis for its supposed militaristic expansion in the entire SCS, including the zone alongside the West Philippine Sea.
He said it is discretionary upon the MTRCB leadership if they will prohibit the showing of Barbie in the country.
He said MTRCB also barred the local screening of the films “Abominable” and “Unchartered” in 2019 and 2022, respectively, due to their depiction of the nine-dash line.
In 2016, The Hague Tribunal invalidated Beijing’s nine-dash line doctrine over the entire SCS following an arbitration case filed by the Philippine government on January 22, 2013.
China’s nine-dash line unilaterally encroached territories of other member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the tribunal noted.
According to the senator, the Arbitral Ruling clearly stated China’s claim on the waterway has no legal basis.
The Vietnamese government already decided to ban the screening of “Barbie” following a review.
Actor-turned politician Sen. Robinhood Padilla, meanwhile, said he cannot make a personal call at this time on whether to allow the showing of “Barbie” in the Philippines without first watching it.
“But this is clear: The decision of whether to allow the showing of this film due to its scene about China’s 9-dash line — which contradicts the arbitral ruling favoring the Philippines — ultimately depends on the messaging of the film,” he said in a statement.
“If the scene or scenes will affect the arbitral ruling, but if the producers would agree to edit it or them out, then I have no problem having it shown,” he added.
However, Padilla said if an agreement cannot be reached to make sure the film does not become a geopolitical issue, then there is no choice but to disallow its showing here.
He believes the showing of the movie will depend on the context of the film, and the extent the producer is willing to address concerns on the arbitral ruling.