ROAD MAPPING
FOR LOCAL FILM INDUSTRY
Dateline – Newsdesk
Café, So. Triangle, QC, June
20, 2007
Speakers:
LEO MARTINEZ – Director General,
Film Academy of the Philippines
Sen. WIGBERTO TAÑADA –
Lead Convenor, Fair Trade Alliance
CARLITOS SIGUION-REYNA – Board
Director, Directors’ Guild of
the Phil., Inc.
JESSICA SANTOS – chief of staff,
office of Rep. ERIN TAÑADA
The so-called Road Mapping
is actually a sort of partnership
among the movie industry players to
set up the goals and programs on how
to pep up the local film industry.
Short and long term goals would be
set up after identifying the causes
of the waning market for local movies.
Speakers
Carlitos Siguion-Reyna, Wigberto
Tañada, Leo Martinez And
Jessica Santos
As
per the account of Direk Carlitos,
264 films were exhibited in 2006,
most of which were foreign films
and only 56 were local movies (11
digital films included). From an
average of 200 plus films in the
1980s and an average of 100 plus
films in the 1990s, the 2006 figure
is a confirmation of the decline.
While most foreign movies are raking
a profit, local movies could only
count on the December festival entries
for a decent return on investment.
Rolly
Ruta, Wilson Tieng and Dominic Du
To segue
a bit, Jessica Santos emphasized
the role of disposable income vis-à-vis
the shrinking market of local movies.
“Even if the tax is drastically
lowered, the disposable income is
still the main consideration. You
can get a pirated copy for 50 pesos,
puwede pang maghiraman na lang,”
Jessica added. The point of contention,
in the viewpoint of Rep. Erin Tañada,
was the low income of the ordinary
moviegoer hence increasing the income
would increase the disposable income
allotted for entertainment.
Leo Martinez,
pointed out the 25 centavos cultural
tax, 5 centavos of which should
go to the Film Academy. Although
that tax is still reflected in the
movie ticket, the sharing is not
being implemented anymore. Another
problem that Leo discussed was the
lack of technical equipment despite
the abundance of technical expertise.
Perhaps the government should play
its role in this area. He also aired
his concern for the big cut on the
Film Academy’s budget, from
30% share in the MMFF proceeds,
it is down to 10% since last year.
From
front left Carlitos Siguion-Reyna,
Wigberto Tañada, Leo Martinez
and Emman dela Cruz. Rear left Wilson
Tiu, Rolly Ruta, Rez Cortez, Isagani
Sioson, Pablo Gomez and Felix Dalay.
Former
Senator Bobby Tañada accented
the sad financial state of the common
tao like the fishermen and farmers.
And since the masses comprise the
main market of local movies, alleviating
their lowly plight may indirectly
contribute to the progress of the
movie industry. Further, Senator
Tañada said that the Fair
Trade Alliance would cover all sectors
and would focus on the immediate
needs to resuscitate the said sectors.
The affair was formally
opened by Wilson Wy Tiu, the Executive
Director of PELSPI (Philippine Employer
Labor Social Partnership, Inc. ).
Road Mapping has an initial timeframe
of 1 year to gather data, analyze
the problems, formulate remedies and
solution before final implementation.
A concerted effort among all the stakeholders
in the movie industry is a show of
unity with one voice.
Road Mapping is a continuing
dialogue among the movie industry
players and sympathetic NGOs.
Also present in the
occasion were Wilson Tieng, who represented
the producers, Rolly Ruta, president
of STAMP (Sound Technicians Association
of Motion Pictures), Gani Sioson,
president of FSC (Filipino Society
of Cinematographers), Pablo Gomez,
president of SGP (Screenwriters’
Guild of the Philippines), Rez Cortez,
board director of KAPPT (Kapisanan
ng Artistang Pilipino sa Pelikula
at Telebisyon), Dominic Du of the
Cinema Bookers Group, Emman Dela Cruz
of Independent Filmmakers, Leonardo
Belen of the Film Workers Cooperative
and Film Director Felix Dalay.
Leo
Martinez being interviewed by the
wazzup girl
Some of the press people
present were Crispina Belen, Entertainment
Editor of Manila Bulletin, and Lahr
Santiago of GMA-7 news team plus some
tabloid and broadsheet reporters.
Covering the event were cameras of
ABS-CBN and GMA-7. There was also
an ambush interview conducted by Wazzup,
Wazzup for Studio 23.—Alex
J. Socorro
ROAD
MAP FOR...
