Congress approves reduced amusement taxes

I was in Manila this week to attend The Philippine STAR’s 23rd anniversary dinner and last Wednesday for the thanksgiving dinner hosted by National Cinema Association of the Philippines (NCAP) because finally Congress approved Republic Act. No. 9640 reducing the Amusement Taxes for Cinemas and Theaters from a high of 30% of gross down to only 10% of gross in ticket sales. This was earlier emailed to me by Gilbert Remulla, spokesman for Sen. Manny Villar one of the principal authors of this bill.

This new law was published on July 22^nd and would take effect 15 days later. Remulla said, “With cheaper tickets, a greater number of Filipinos would find it more affordable to patronize movie theaters. Thus, Provincial governments would easily recover the forgone revenue through increased traffic at a lesser rate.” He also gave confidence that the lower amusement taxes would fire up the local movie industry, but I seriously doubt it.

While the lowering of the Amusement taxes is a great help, however the Film Industry is still in the ICU! I can only hope that it’s not too late to revive our moribund movie industry that has been saddled not only by excessively high amusement taxes (it was only 15% before, but Marcos increased it to 30% during Martial Law) but also high power cost and then the biggest problem of all, Film Piracy. If nothing is done about Film Piracy, I can guarantee you that box office sales would still be low.

The reality today is that, movies are no longer the only means of entertainment of our people, unlike in the early 60’s to the 90’s. But the entry of Television, then the Betamax, which later changed to VHS and eventually moved to CD’s and DvD’s and now Blue Ray DvD, plus video games and the Internet. Indeed, there’s a lot of competition for the movie industry. This is not to mention that Cable Television itself has done more harm than good to the movie industry. But if Congress gave stiffer penalties to those selling pirated movies and throw these pirates into jail, I will be the first to ask the NCAP and its member theaters to reduce their ticket prices.

But as of now, the movie industry would have to study the effects of a lower amusement taxes whether it would revive the industry. In his speech, NCAP President Ric Camaligan thanked all the Senators who supported this bill, led by Sen. Bong Revilla, who in turned thanked all his colleagues in the Senate, including Sen. Jinggoy Estrada (although, during the short term of his Dad, former Pres. Erap Estrada, he wasn’t able to help his own industry) who was present during the thanksgiving dinner.

Both Sen. Revilla and Ric Camaligan also thanked the members of Congress, led by Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, Rep. Al Bichara, Rep. Erwin Tieng, Rep. Ed Zialcita and Rep. Marcelino Teodoro for their unceasing support, while giving lavish praise to Quezon City Mayor Sonny Belmonte, Jr. who walked the talk by cutting amusement taxes in Quezon City to zero!

Sen. Revilla pointed out that the Film Industry is still under threat by its other problems. But he told us that the Revilla Family owes the Film Industry or there would be no Ramon Revilla and no Bong Revilla in the Senate. So in a way, he is only giving back to the industry that gave him his name and his Senate seat. This bill at least gives a new hope to the Film Industry.

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There is a book launching today at the Casa Gorordo Museum… it is about the biography of former vice-president Emmanuel Pelaez entitled ‘What’s Happening to Our Country: The Life and Times of Emmanuel Pelaez’ written by my good friend, political commentator Nelson Navarro who will be presented to Cebu civic leaders and students of political history by the foundation named after the former statesman in partnership with his nephew, Mactan Chamber of Commerce President Efrain T. Pelaez, Jr.

The coffee table book of over 340 pages is both a biography and compelling narrative woven around the key political figures from the Quirino up to the Aquino administrations. It clearly illustrates the patriotism exhibited by pre-Marcos political figures and serves as a worthy reminder for the need for genuine servant leadership among those seeking public office.

This book is aptly titled because in the 80’s Pelaez waged a fiery crusade against the coconut levy, “perhaps the biggest of all Marcosian scandals,” according to Navarro. As a result of his unrelenting pursuit of truth and justice for the coconut farmer in a period when political opposition was hardly tolerated, Pelaez was ambushed and nearly died in 1982. The coconut monopoly was dismantled soon after. No doubt this is one book that students of Philippine political history ought to read, because Manning Pelaez gave us hope that there were people who stood up against the Marcos Dictatorship. 

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