President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has dismissed the controversy over the live-action film “Barbie” and a scene that allegedly alludes to China’s delineation of the South China Sea, stating that it is a work of fiction.

In a chance interview on the sidelines of his official engagements in Northern Samar on Friday, which included the inauguration of the 11.607-kilometer Samar Pacific Coastal Road project in Laoang town, Marcos said that a scene in the movie has nothing to do with China’s nine-dash line claim in the contested South China Sea.

Furthermore, Marcos did not provide any specific justifications for or against airing the contentious scene, nor did he comment on the MTRCB’s decision to blur the fictional map in order to prevent misinterpretations.

“It’s a good movie, they said,” Marcos said in Filipino as quoted in a press release by the Presidential Communications Office.

In response to concerns regarding the alleged tackling of China’s territorial claims and the depiction of the boundary line as part of the movie, Marcos said, “Of course, they were saying that there was a boundary line. My answer to them was: what do you expect? It’s a work of fiction.”

The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board decided not to ban the film after “exhausting all possible resources, including advice from the DFA.”

However, MTRCB has also requested the film’s distributor, Warner Bros., “to blur the controversial lines in order to avoid further misinterpretations.”

Photo: Bongbong Marcos FB