Gloria offers olive branch to film industry but ‘Live Show’ ban stays

President Arroyo waved the olive branch yesterday at the film industry, saying local governments would slash by half the 30 percent amusement tax imposed on the box office and go after video pirates.

"This gesture will go a long way in easing the burden of the producer who will now have a way of coming out with quality films," she said, a day after hundreds of movie industry workers marched to the Pa-lace to protest the curtailment of artistic freedom.

The President also drew the line between freedom of expression and pornography, and said she has finally watched the controversial film Live Show that has stirred a hornet’s nest in the country.

"While freedom of expression is really one of the hallmarks of a free and democratic society, we cannot allow pornography, which caters to the baser instincts, to go on corrupting the people," she said.

A wave of protests greeted Mrs. Arroyo’s order to withdraw Jose Javier Reyes’ Live Show from theaters. The chief censor resigned over the alleged violation of freedom of expression, and hundreds marched to the Palace Monday.

The President described Live Show as "a well-made soft-pornographic film." The other day, the new chairman of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, Alejandro Roces, described it as "pornography for pornography’s sake."

In offering the tax break, the President said the local movie industry was "one of the most heavily taxed" in the country.

She said a decision by Metro Manila mayors to cut the municipal amusement tax "will go a long way in easing the burden on the producers who will now have more leeway in coming out with quality films."

Interior Secretary Jose Lina said that he would lobby before local governments outside Manila to follow the capital’s example. Around 17 mayors have committed to cut to 15 percent the amusement tax.

Mrs. Arroyo also pledged government help in combating movie piracy, which she said "will soon toll the death knell for the movie industry" unless put in check.

She said people no longer go out and watch newly released movies because they can buy cheap pirated versions and run them on their video players at home.

"We will go against movie pirates. We will hunt and destroy them," she said, describing pirates as a "clear and present danger to the growth of and development of the Filipino film industry."

"We must take a long look at problems affecting Filipino movies so we can be competitively compared to other Asian cinemas," she added.

She said the government’s role as moral police was enshrined in the Constitution, which requires it to protect Filipino families from "all forms of neglect, abuse, cruelty, exploitation and other conditions prejudicial to their development."

A devout Roman Catholic, Mrs. Arroyo sparked outrage when she banned Live Show last week amid pressure from Church leaders who branded it pornographic.

The banned film depicts the lives of impoverished young men and women who are paid to engage in sex on stage at Manila’s nightclubs.

The movie premiered at the Berlin Film Festival last year and has also toured other foreign venues following rave reviews from critics.

But in her weekly press conference yesterday, Mrs. Arroyo heaped scorn on the film, saying she has finally watched it.

"The freedom of expression, like the freedom of speech and of the press, is not a license to say or do anything offensive to others. It has certain limitations that conform to the ethics and values of society," she said.

Describing herself as a movie fan, the President said she watches at least one movie a week and last went to a theater to watch Hannibal, the sequel to the Silence of the Lambs.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr. agreed that the tax break for the movie industry is long overdue.

Pimentel said the movie-making business is one of the most heavily taxed and yet no serious government effort has been made to bail it out from its present troubles.

Movie producers, he said, are forced to make low-budgeted sex-oriented films with no moral value at all just to survive.

Pimentel said the sad state of the movie industry is also reflected in the decreasing number of films produced every year and the growing number of theaters closing down all over the country.

"Given the tremendous influence of films as an information and entertainment medium and its huge contributions to the economy, we cannot just allow the movie industry to sink deeper," he said.

Re-electionist Sen. Gregorio Honasan, on the other hand, urged yesterday Mrs. Arroyo to hold a dialogue with protesting movie industry workers, including award-winning directors, to settle the issue of Church interference in the banning of Live Show.

"It is important that the government must first hear the side of the leaders of the local film industry to settle once and for all the issue of censorship," Honasan said.

The senator said there is an urgent need to reach a consensus on the definition of obscene films and shows that threaten to destroy the moral fiber of the public, especially the youth.

But, he noted, although the Church serves as an "unofficial guardian of morality," it must not get actively involved in state affairs.

Meanwhile, a Quezon City councilor said the war on pornography should include a ban on sex songs in the market.

Singer Anthony Castelo said the proliferation of such "double meaning" songs has contributed to the growing cases of heinous crimes like rape and murder.

Castelo was referring to songs like Aray, Ibigay Mo Na, Kahit Gaano Kalaki, Nilunok Mong Lahat, and Sisirin Mo, copies of which have been selling like hot cakes in the market for several months now.

"Studies have shown that sex and violent movies and songs aid in the commission of crimes such as incestuous rape, gang rape and other heinous acts," the councilor noted in his proposed resolution. – Marichu Villanueva, Cecille Suerte Felipe