WILLIE REVILLAME’S camp reiterated its appeal for authorities not to be selective in  setting rules regarding what is permissible on television or not, and for the probing bodies to impose sanctions as well as stricter guidelines on an industry-wide basis.

This developed as the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board yesterday changed the members of its panel investigating the Willing Willie/Willie Revillame “child abuse” case involving Jan Jan.

In a statement, MTRCB Chairman Mary Grace Poe-Llamanzares confirmed that singer Leah Navarro as well as lawyers Eric Mallonga and Eugenio Villareal have inhibited themselves from the case.

During the hearing Thursday afternoon,  ABC TV5 represented by the Makati-based ACCRA Law firm, issued a statement arguing that the MTRCB has no jurisdiction over the case, which is criminal in nature.

“Even assuming the MTRCB has jurisdiction, the creation and composition of the present panel do not afford TV5 due process, particularly its right to be heard by an impartial tribunal, considering that all three panel members are conflicted as they have close links or relationships with a rival network involved in legal cases with TV5 and Willie Revillame,” the statement added.

WilProductions Inc. echoed the arguments of ABC TV5 that “a  rival network has also aired dance numbers of children with very similar dance movements as those of Jan Jan’s.”

In their respective investigations, TV5 and WillProductions noted that the versions of the incident that were circulated on YouTube and Facebook were substantially different from what actually took place and was aired on the TV program. While the segment where Jan Jan appeared spanned a period of 48 minutes in the actual show, the YouTube and Facebook versions lasted for only around ten minutes or less.

TV5 and WilProductions emphasized that it was exceedingly clear that Jan Jan was not coerced in any way. Jan Jan’s parents Joe and Diana Suan, uncle Argie Estrada and aunt Jocelyn S. Santiago have signed respective sworn statements attesting to this fact.

Both firms also added that JanJan’s dance was not obscene as its is no different from the ‘body wave’, ‘lambada’, belly dancing and thee ‘spaghetti dance’