More flights for OFWs

There is a healthy public discussion now going on concerning the request of the Kingdom of Bahrain for six additional frequencies to Manila for Gulf Air, the kingdom’s national carrier. The request has been conveyed to the government and this has been scheduled for two days of bilateral consultations starting today between the negotiating air panels of the two countries.

On the part of Bahrain, giving the additional frequencies will benefit not only the overseas Filipino workers in Bahrain itself but even those in Saudi Arabia and the entire Gulf Region. For one, it will result in savings for our OFWs since at present, many of them have to pass through Saudi Arabia in their flights to Manila. This will further strengthen trade and cultural ties, improve air services between the two countries, and also encourage tourism.

From where we stand, this can also be viewed as a way of reciprocating the numerous forms of assistance that the kingdom has been extending to the country. Bahrain had worked through back channels to help free Filipino workers Angelo dela Cruz and Roberto Tarongoy who were held hostage by Iraqi insurgents. It also gave 50 percent discounts for the air fare of jailed OFWs who were repatriated back to the country. The Philippines had also received financial grants from Bahrain. These include a donation of US$3 million worth of land and construction of a school campus in Bahrain for some 800 Filipino students; $1 million this year to fund various projects in Muslim communities; $50,000 each for various projects in Aurora and Quezon provinces and those of the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC).

Hopefully, these points will be considered in the consultations.

* * *

Coup rumors notwithstanding, February 14 came and went, marked by the usual unusual traffic, the uptick in the price of hot-house roses, the giddy proliferation of power performances not just in the hotels but also in the unlikeliest tents and tiangges, thereby making little of plans bared by GMA in the papers that day for the establishment of a "Hollywood-style" studio in the country.

At a media interaction in Pampanga recently, Cyber City Teleservices (CCT), a pioneer in the call center industry at the Clark special economic zone, disclosed that it was broadening its operations to develop "full Hollywood-style studios" on a 40-hectare site. President Arroyo hailed it "the long-time dream of the movie industry" finally about to unfold. She described the project, a joint venture between Cyber City and Shogee Studios, with base in California and offices in China, Singapore and Canada, as "very important not just for Clark but for the whole movie industry."

For Philippine cinema, rumors of its early demise being somewhat exaggerated, it is, in no uncertain terms, in extremis. "We are overwhelmed with foreign imports," laments Elpidio Salvador, a post-production manager whose employment with OctoArts ended summarily some four years back. Confronted by a paucity of work prospects, the father of three remarks dryly, "It is ironic that more wasn’t done when Erap, being a movie icon himself, was president. For that matter, FPJ, his putative successor, for all the adulation bestowed upon him by the Filipino filmgoer – and even the voter – did not go beyond the parochial interests of his own business and just went on to produce films with repetitive themes."

Recall his eminently forgettable vehicles, we are urged. Who can?

He cites, among others, "Kahit Kaunting Pagtingin," a Sharon Cuneta co-starrer, where FPJ essays the family chauffeur, she, the daughter of the house. After bashful, at-turns outrageous, flirting, he falls for her cute dimples and ample charm and winds up spiriting her away on her wedding day (to someone else!), and in her bridal finery yet, on a properly skittish horse. A chase ensues, he is – gasp! – caught and promptly bludgeoned to within an inch of his life, whereupon, roused from her camera-induced discombobulation, she screams away in his defense, ensuring a life happy-ever-after.

Only in the Philippine…movies?

Anna Gonzales, 24, a film school graduate, insists it isn’t for lack of taste or talent that the industry is in the toilet. "We are globally competitive in terms of production: from our actors, our directors, writers, cinematographers, technicians, to make-up artists. We have been winning awards overseas precisely because of compelling story concepts and good production values! If only it weren’t so expensive to mount a production."

Erstwhile UP Film Institute Professor Joven Velasco blames excessive taxation as foremost among the industry’s afflictions. "One third of box office receipts go to taxes, one third to the theatre/exhibitor, one third to the producer. To simplify it, if a producer spends P10 million to make a film, he needs to earn P30 million at the box office just to break even."

"Audience support" is yet another. Competition in the form of alternative recreation like computers, television, cable, malling, is formidable. Velasco decries what he calls "a third world cinema culture" that stymies further development of Philippine film. Typically, "the technology is introduced by the French, the Germans, and Hollywood. The tendency of colonials is to copy, to adopt the models of producing and exhibiting. The Hollywood genre model is basically commercial," leaving no room for innovative films, which "are appreciated only by those with higher cultural capital: the educated, the ones exposed to a western aesthetic, as opposed to the general mass audience, which is not to say they have no aesthetic sense, the taste is just different."

Witness the record of South Korea’s film industry, and its growing popularity in the global film market. The South Korean government encouraged big business to invest in the industry and "had the foresight to position film as an export product." Businesses retain their movie revenues in US dollars! "The government actively campaigned for the industry, regulated the entry of foreign films, sent young filmmakers to be trained abroad," which is why Korean telenovelas, which have strong story structures, which create character and build up scenes for characterization – all patterned after Hollywood – have a market! And, let’s face it, "Koreans are just more patriotic!"

Cyber City executives said that Shogee, which is known for providing the special effects utilized in such movie franchises as Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, will invest as much as US$10 million for a "world-class full production studio facility comprising visual effects, computer-generated imaging (CGI), prop and façade manufacturing for export and animations capabilities," serving the needs of television and film production worldwide. In addition, scholarship grants, including tuition, allowances, board and lodging, will enable Filipino artists and industry personnel to be trained intensively in CGI at Shogee’s non-profit Education Foundation Center, also at the site. Not least, the studios will create jobs for as many as 4,000 locals once fully operational.

Now if that isn’t a Valentine, I don’t know what is.