The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) said on Friday, March 6, that it had not denied a review of the GMA Public Affairs-produced documentary Lost Sabungeros. But GMA Public Affairs Senior Vice President Nessa Valdellon says she and Lost Sabungeros director Bryan Brazil received a letter from the MRTCB confirming that the board did decline to review and classify the film.
“The MTRCB clarifies that the film Lost Sabungeros was not rejected nor denied review. Instead, the producers were asked to submit the documentary requirements needed for the board to properly evaluate the film,” the MTRCB said in a statement after the release of a new trailer for the documentary, where GMA Public Affairs said the board denied them a review two times. “One of these requirements was a certification confirming that the subject matter of the material is not the subject of any pending case before the courts.”
According to MTRCB’s letter to GMA Public Affairs, dated February 19 and signed by board Chairperson Diorella “Lala” Sotto-Antonio, the board cannot review and classify the film without a Certification of No Pending Case to prove that the documentary doesn’t discuss a sub judice case, or a case that is ongoing and therefore prohibited by law from public discussion.
Responding to the letter on Facebook, Valdellon said, “Would just like to remind you that your very own office sent out communications to us last February with this specific line: ‘The Board finds no sufficient basis to disturb or reconsider its prior determination in declining to review and classify the above-mentioned film,’” she said.
Commenting on MTRCB’s alleged censorship of Lost Sabungeros, filmmaker JL Burgos said, “Inaalis ng MTRCB ang sarili nila sa accountability by requiring the producers of the film to submit a Certification of No Pending Case. If there is no such certification, then the MTRCB can give the documentary an X rating under [the] sub judice rule.”
Burgos, whose documentary Alipato at Muog also faced censorship by the MTRCB, added, “‘Yon ang problema kapag sa simula pa lang they refuse to review the film: inaalis ang pagkakataon ng producer ng pelikula na tumahak sa legal at demokratikong paraan ng pagapila. Hugas kamay agad, ni hindi pa na-review ang pelikula.”
Lost Sabungeros, which investigates the disappearances of several sabungeros and other individuals involved in Luzon’s cockfighting industry, has faced censorship since its release in 2024. Originally slated for Cinemalaya in August 2024, the film festival and the Cultural Center of the Philippines canceled the film’s premiere due to “security concerns,” before it finally premiered at the QCinema Independent Film Festival in November that year. In 2024, the MTRCB also declined to give the film a review and age rating for distribution.
After an extensive search in 2025 for the bodies of the missing sabungeros in parts of Southern Luzon, including Taal Lake, Batangas, the Department of the Interior and Local Government launched a manhunt for businessman Charlie “Atong” Ang. The gambling magnate is believed by authorities to be the mastermind behind the disappearances, and has not been found since a Lipa City court issued his arrest warrant in January 2026.
With the missing sabungeros case ongoing, Valdellon said, “We are going the school route so that more people can see the new [and] complete version of the documentary.”
