MMFF: 2010-2012 amusement tax given to beneficiaries

MANILA, Philippines - The Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) on Monday clarified that it has released all the amusement tax collections allocated to the beneficiaries of the annual film festival from 2010 to 2012, which is the subject of a second petition by the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP).

MMFF spokesperson Marichu Maceda said a total of P29,525,000 million were released to the five beneficiary-agencies of the MMFF from 2010 to 2012.

Under the November 22, 2010 directive of the Office of the President, the bulk of the amusement tax proceeds goes to the Movie Workers Welfare Foundation, Inc. (MOWELFUND), which gets 50 percent; FAP, 20 percent; Motion Picture Anti-Piracy Council, 20 percent; Optical Media Board, five percent; and Film Development Council of the Philippines, five percent.

"We have the records to explain where the funds of the MMFF go, including the amusement tax allocations given to the beneficiaries. These documents speak for themselves, and clearly indicated there were no fund misuse as alleged by FAP,” Maceda said.

Maceda said the MMFF-Executive Committee is mandated to allocate and remit to the designated beneficiaries the net proceeds of the amusement tax collections after deducting all its operational and incidental expenses.

The MMFF derives its tax revenues from the amusement taxes waived and donated by the 17 Metro Manila local government units during the 10-day festival that runs from December 25 to January 3.

A huge chunk of the MMFF’s expenses goes to the prizes and awards. The MMFF also helped in typhoon Sendong and typhoon Pablo stricken areas in Mindanao by building classrooms.

Earlier, Maceda maintained that all funds of the MMFF, particularly the amusement tax collections, are intact and accounted for.

The FAP had filed a second petition against the executive committee of the MMFF, this time accusing the panel of failing to remit over P11 million to the event’s beneficiaries from 2010 to 2012.

The FAP, through lawyer Antonio Inton, filed the five-page supplemental petition before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 217.

The amount was on top of the alleged P82 million that the MMFF failed to remit to the beneficiaries from 2002 to 2008, which is covered by the original petition.

The beneficiaries include MOWELFUND (50 percent), FAP (20 percent), Motion Picture Anti-Film Piracy Council (20 percent), Film Development Council of the Philippines (five percent) and the Optical Media Board (five percent).

Inton said they filed the supplemental petition following the statements made by Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino, who said he was not the head of the agency from 2002 to 2008. The MMDA chief also chairs the MMFF executive committee.

Citing preliminary inquiry and information based on available records, Inton said some P11.2 million were not remitted to the movie festival's beneficiaries from 2010 to 2012.

He alleged that the amusement tax collected from the MMFF in 2010 totaled P15.73 million, but only P11.2 million was released to the beneficiaries.

It also showed that only P11 million of the P12.27 million was released from the 2011 MMFF proceeds, while P11 million of the P16.41 million was released from the 2012 proceeds.

“The same is likewise rendered essential in order to stress that the amount covered by the report of the Commission on Audit is not an isolated situation,” read the supplemental petition.

“Tolentino must be made answerable and accountable, in his official capacity, not only for the acts committed by or during the tenure of his predecessors but also for the acts committed during his own tenure,” it added.

The earlier petition for mandamus only covered the COA report that audited the funds from 2002 to 2008, when executive committee was still headed by former MMDA chairman Bayani Fernando.

The audit report showed that the MMFF executive committee only released to beneficiaries P130.4 million of the total proceeds of P216.6 million, thus leaving a balance of P82.8 million of amusement tax proceeds from the said years.