Manila, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – The much-talked about one-on-one interview by Filipino comedian Vice Ganda with President NoyNoy Aquino will not be airing on January 4 as originally scheduled.

The reason? Vice Ganda’s entry to the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), ‘Praybeyt Benjamin 2,’ did not win any award at Saturday’s closing ceremony. Aquino’s nephew, Bimby, son of presidential sister Kris Aquino, also stars in the film.

In the film, Private Benjamin “Benjie” Santos (Vice Ganda) has been promoted to colonel in the Philippine army and has made a name for himself as a modern day national hero. But when Benjie starts taking his reputation and his duties for granted, he is forced under the service of General Wilson Chua (Richard Yap) to try and thwart a terrorist plot to bomb areas around the Philippines. It just so happens that the only person who knows where the bombs are is a young boy named Bimby (Bimby Aquino).

The interview with President Aquino was arranged by Kris as a way to promote the film and gain favor with the film festival jurors.

Immediately after the announcement of the film festival awards — in which ‘Praybeyt Benjamin’ failed to garner a single award —  Malacañang (the presidential palace) announced that it was withdrawing permission to Vice Ganda to air the taped interview.

“We don’t want the Filipino TV viewers to be reminded about the poor performance of the film,” said Kris Aquino.

The taped interview was all about the film and how President Aquino feels about his actor nephew. No other topics or issues of national and international concern were discussed.

The big winner in the MMFF was the film about one of the Philippines’ great heroes, ‘Bonifacio.’