NEWSFLASH 

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FILMMAKERS SEEK INCENTIVES EQUAL TO OTHER INDUSTRIES

Manila, Jan. 13, 2000 - Filmmakers wants government to recognize movie production as a “certified industry” entitled to the same perks and privileges enjoyed by registered enterprises in other lines of business.

The Directors Guild of the Philippines Inc., Film Development Foundation of the Philippines Inc., and the Kapisanan ng mga Direktor ng Pelikulang Pilipino have relayed their request to the Department of Trade and Industry.

“We want to be considered an industry once and for all and we want the government to rationalize the duties imposed on us,” Don Escudero of DGPI said.

“Film is not only an art or cultural product, but also a product of an industry subject to national and global economic market forces,” he added.

The Philippine film industry is the third largest in the world next only to India and the United States. It produces around 250 films every year.

As such, Escudero said, the movie makers should also be entitled to tax incentives and other benefits to face the growing global competition.

But Trade Undersecretary Ernesto Ordoñez blamed the film industry for not making any effort to register with the Board of Investments.

“The problem is they don’t know they can register their projects so they can be exempted from duty importations,” he said.

“We don’t even have any idea what incentives we can avail of. We simply need help,” Escudero said.

Ordoñez said the film industry had not yet formally submitted an incentives request plan. The industry does not even have a proper organization to address such concerns, according to Ordoñez.

“They don’t even have an executive director to look into the business side of this sector,” he said. “Former Trade secretary Pardo has agreed and that we will title the filmmaking business as an industry, but we will need to find a group that will manage some sort of a five-year plan for the new industry.”

Earlier, DGPI proposed to President Estrada the creation of a Philippine Film Industry Competitiveness Board that would include as members representatives from the government and the film industry.

The proposed board will be chaired by the trade department with an elected executive director overseeing policies and acting as liaison between the board and the film industry.