• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Movie action star turned Senator Lito Lapid and “Prime Star” Lorna Tolentino are pushing to lower down prices of movie tickets, in the wake of streaming service by companies that offer a wide variety of shows and movies.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, Tolentino said people appears to be no longer keen in watching movies anymore, as they focus on teleseryes in their television sets and other gadgets, while Lapid noted that viewers spend more to watch movies in theaters, including transportation fare and snacks, aside from the pricey tickets.
Because of the pandemic, many have lost their jobs in the movie industry, Tolentino said.
Lapid said there is now a bill pending in Congress to bring down movie ticket prices.
In her proposed bill, BHW partylist Rep. Angelica Natasha Co, vice chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations, said “Getting our people out of their homes and returning to what they did before the pandemic, including watching movies, will revive the entertainment industry and the economy.”
Lapid and Tolentino are proposing that the price of a movie ticket could be lowered to P200 or P150, from its current price of P300.
Co noted that Filipino producers have yet to fully harness the power of online platforms and online access to the masses is limited because internet speeds and coverage are still slow and low for most Filipinos.
“Therefore, in-person viewing of movies in theaters and plays on stage is still the main mode available to them. But current ticket prices are prohibitive and Filipinos are price-sensitive,” said Co, who is also a member of the House Committees on Economic Affairs and the special committee on creative industry and performing arts.
Lapid filed Senate Bill No. 1889 ensuring that entertainment industry workers are provided opportunities for gainful employment and decent income, and are protected from abuse, harassment, hazardous working conditions, and economic exploitation.
SB 1889, otherwise known as the ‘Eddie Garcia Act’, was named after Eddie Garcia, a veteran actor who died in June 2019 following an accident while filming a teleserye. Eddie Garcia starred alongside Fernando Poe Jr. and Senator Manuel “Lito” Lapid in the 1980 film ‘Kalibre .45’.
Lapid, who also co-directs and stars in the new FPJ’s Batang Quiapo teleserye, claimed that the lack of or shortage of coverage of the social protection programs in the entertainment industry is due to the weakness and failure of the government to identify and accept the unique characteristics of entertainment work.
“These include self-employment, temporary or open-ended, part-time or full-time work arrangements with one or more employers, or a mix of these. Furthermore, entertainment work is sometimes characterized by unpredictable revenues and a reliance on consumer or audience demand as well as the season, resulting in an irregular nature of work that is frequently linked with regional, and occasionally worldwide, mobility,” the bill’s explanatory note read.
Under SB No. 1889, an industry worker or independent contractor, defined as “any person engaged or hired by the employer or principal to render services involving the production, distribution, and exhibition of film, television, and radio entertainment content” shall be governed by the provisions of the Civil Code on contracts and other applicable laws, but not lower than the standards provided under Presidential Decree No. 442, or the Labor Code of the Philippines, as amended.*
