The late Fernando Poe Jr. and Eddie Garcia, two of the country’s movie icons and most beloved actors, were honored by House of Representatives committees who named two important legislative measures after them.
The whole nation mourned the passing of Poe and Garcia who were idolized by millions for their superb acting and screen portrayals that lasted decades.
In a recent hearing, the House Committee on Labor and Employment unanimously approved House Bill 0181 or the proposed Eddie Garcia Act that proposes the creation of occupational safety and health standards for the film, television and theater industry in the country.
Deputy Speaker and 1PaCMAN Partylist Rep. Michael L. Romero, principal author of the bill, said the legislative measure requires the industry to provide a safe workplace for all its workers and employees, including actors and crew.
On the other hand, HB 7499 is a bill proposing to rename one of Quezon City’s busiest and most important roads to Fernando Poe Jr. Avenue.
Authored by QC lawmakers, HB 7499 was unanimously endorsed by the House Committee on Public Works and Highways chaired by Romblon Rep. Eleandro Jesus Madrona.
To be renamed is Del Monte Avenue which traverses 13 barangays in QC’s First Congressional District. It is also in Del Monte Avenue where the FPJ Productions is located.
The bill’s authors, namely, Reps. Anthony Crisologo; Precious Castelo; Alan Reyes; Alfredo Vargas, Christopher Belmonte and Bernadette Herrera-Dy, said the measure proposes to honor Poe, popularly known as FPJ, not only for his huge contributions to Philippine cinema but also for his “charitable generosity, moral integrity and honorable characteristics” that made him popular among the masses.
“His personification of a hero— both on screen and in real life – catapulted him to the presidential elections in 2004 where he proved to have won the hearts of millions of Filipinos,” the authors said.
“Da King”, another popular nickname for FPJ, lost the 2004 presidential elections under controversial circumstances, to former president and Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
On the House Bill 0181 or the proposed Eddie Garcia Act, the labor and employment panel chaired by 1PACMAN Partylist Rep. Eric Pineda, readily agreed that there should be a set of strict labor standards to be followed in the movie/film, television and theater industry.
A Sorsogon native, Eddie Garcia died at age 90 when he accidentally tripped on cables on the site of a GMA Network production set where he was filming a regular television series.
Romero said HB 181 proposes mandatory insurance coverage for personnel and production crew in the industry.
Standard working hours and identification of safety and health hazards in the filming area of a production are also mandated.