What our movie industry can do to save Philippine cinema
What can our mainstream movie producers and government do to save Philippine cinema from its seemingly moribund condition for most of the year, only coming to life to compete in the all-Filipino protectionist Christmas season of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF)? The MMFF screening committee, chaired by film critic Nicanor Tiongson, this year declined to include movies by big producers and chose mostly independently produced or indie films, explaining that they are hoping to promote better-quality movies.
Mainstream producers and stars have expressed disappointment, like Mano Po 7 producer Mother Lily Monteverde, the selfmade tycoon who founded Regal Films, saying that Christmas is a time for movies catering to kids and not for indie movies.
Enteng Kabisote 10 co-producer and star Vic Sotto said he respects the taste of the MMFF, but complained they “didn’t respect the taste of the moviegoers.” In response to the MMFF snub, Enteng
Kabisote 10 and The Super Parental Guardians led by actor Vice Ganda will both open on Nov. 30, while Mano Po 7 will be released on Dec. 14. Sotto’s business partner and coproducer Orly Ilacad declined to comment on the MMFF snub; Ilacad is the low-key entrepreneur behind OctoArts Music and OctoArts Films. A former musician in the 1960s, he was the lead singer of Orly Ilacad and the Ramrods, the Eraserheads of their time.
Ilacad and his cousin Vic del Rosario started Vicor Records in 1965 in a oneroom office on Raon Street, Manila. Both later went separate ways, Ilacad founding OctoArts and Del Rosario also becoming a tycoon with Viva Films and Viva Records. The third business partner behind
Enteng Kabisote 10 is APT Entertainment, Inc., the television and film production company subsidiary of TAPE Inc., which in turn is the producer of the longest-running noontime variety show Eat Bulaga! on GMA-7. APT stands for Antonio P. Tuviera, the low-profile, self-made billionaire.
My unsolicited advice to our government, as well as the big movie producers and indie film producers, is to come out with a strategic master plan for reviving what was once a dynamic and vibrant Philippine movie industry, which is now a laggard compared to our Asian neighbors like South Korea. Countries like South Korea and China have quotas for the volume of imported foreign films.
However, more important than just this MMFF-like protectionist policy, South Korean movies have boomed in quality and box office success due to entrepreneurial businesspeople and venture capitalists investing seriously to upgrade the technical and other aspects of quality. Korean film businesspeople introduced a vertically integrated system, becoming involved in every stage of the film industry, from financing, production and exhibition to distribution, international sales and video release. Their government also helped create investment funds for movies. Today, not only are local films stronger than Hollywood movies in South Korea, they’re popular exports worldwide as well.
ALLIANCE GLOBAL & MONDE NISSIN ARE TOP INVESTORS IN UK Philippine STAR
Unknown to most people, columnist and British Ambassador Asif Ahmad not only spent five months studying the Filipino language at the start of his stint here in Manila, he was also a banker for 18 years and once worked with Business Link in London as an adviser to small- and medium-sized companies before becoming a top diplomat. In his comprehensive dialogue with media at the Pandesal Forum of Kamuning Bakery Café in Quezon City, he gave a tip to Philippine SME entrepreneurs, urging them to export more to Britain.
Ahmad revealed that there are now many direct flights between Manila and London, that often the cargo sections of the huge jets are empty and Philippine entrepreneurs should find ways to export more to his country, which is Europe’s second largest economy next only to Germany, and is the world’s fifth biggest economy. A guest panelist at Ambassador Ahmad’s Pandesal Forum was Philippine Exporters Confederation president Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr., who said that the Philippines enjoys a positive trade surplus with the United Kingdom.
In his talk, Ahmad extolled the positive economic benefits of globalization and urged the Philippines to continue to embrace it, not follow a seemingly global trend of anti-globalization in some countries due to many people not yet feeling the benefits and due to fears of losing livelihoods. Ahmad said that global interdependency improves food security, consumer choice, healthcare and overall socio-economic progress. He urges governments to invest more in infrastructure and social welfare to empower marginalized people.
Ahmad cited two Philippine firms for boosting UK-Philippine economic ties with their investments: Andrew Tan’s Alliance Global Group, which bought Britain’s Scotch Whisky company Whyte & Mackay in October 2014 for £430 million ($726 million), while in October 2015, Monde Nissin bought Britain’s innovative meat-substitute producer Quorn Foods for £550 million ($831 million dollars).
Founded by low-key entrepreneur Betty Ang, Monde Nissin also bought the Philippines’ famous biscuit producer MY San, which makes SkyFlakes and Fita biscuits, and bakery industry sources told me that Monde Nissin recently bought the Walter Bread brand of healthy breads from the family of entrepreneur Walter Co.
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RH ADVOCATES ASK FOR SUPPORT
Reproductive health (RH) advocates are seeking more multi-sectoral support for their advocacy, especially from the business community and professionals. They say that enactment of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012 (RH Law) took more than a decade of struggle in Congress and they hope access to family planning (FP) services will be promoted. However, they said, “Opponents of the RH law, relentless in challenging its mandate, succeeded in having the Supreme Court release a TRO hindering the full implementation of family planning programs through restrictions in public procurement and distribution of select family planning supplies.”
The NGO Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development Foundation, Inc. (PLCPD) said, “6.1 million Filipinas are presently using contraceptives, and another 7.3 million have unmet needs for family planning. This TRO will then deprive 13.4 million Filipino women the means to avoid unplanned pregnancies, and, consequently, associated health risks. The TRO on family supplies places stringent legal impediments to the certification and ultimately, the dispensation of potentially life-saving FP supplies. Again, as the TRO remains in force, we will eventually face a situation where no FP supplies will be available in the market. All Filipinos, with no discrimination, will have no access to contraceptives — denying them of the fundamental right to health.”
To awaken public awareness on the urgency of the situation, and also to encourage more RH advocates anew, the Purple Ribbon for RH Movement has launched a signature campaign to urge the Supreme Court to lift the TRO on family-planning supplies.
Seeking the active support of business organizations, SME entrepreneurs and professionals are RH advocates such as PLCPD executive director Rom Dongeto, PILAKK president Lina Bacalando, RPRH National Implementation Team (NIT) chair and former Health Secretary Dr. Esperanza Cabral and Commission on Population executive director Dr. Juan Antonio Perez III. The NGO of PLCPD can be contacted at their email address plcpdfound@plcpd.org. ph or their website http://plcpd.org.ph, or you can follow PLCPD1989 on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The RH advocacy is not just the concern of those who care about social justice, women’s rights and welfare. RH is a progressive socio-economic development advocacy that can help alleviate massive poverty nationwide and can help build solid economic foundations for a more prosperous Philippines beneficial for all businesspeople and professionals.
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