Eraserhead singer Ely Buendia has expressed his thoughts on the alleged "plagiarism" issue involving work from “Ang Huling El Bimbo: The Musical” and a claim of a contestant from an online talent search.
Recall that theater actor Jef Flores called out “The Pop Stage” contestant CJ Villavicencio for "supposedly plagiarised" work from "AHEB" that the latter used on the show.
"I’m so happy to conceptualize, write and co-direct this performance. The struggles and victories of my 14-yr old dream are compressed into 5 minutes and 35 seconds — let me share it with you," CJ wrote on his Facebook page along with the video he submitted to the contest.
Jef shared on his account the side-by-side breakdown of "Pare Ko" from the musical, which was arranged by Myke Salomon with direction and choreography by Dexter Santos; along with CJ's work.
"Bias disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Ang Huling El Bimbo, I do not work for them,” Jeff wrote as caption.
“However, many of the cast are close friends of mine. I am a musical arranger, and a theater actor and that's why I'm upset and disheartened. At the same time I don't speak for all people, I only speak for myself. And I chose to make this video because I feel like this is not right."
In Ely’s recent post on Facebook, he shared that the “Pare Ko” chant version from "Ang Huling El Bimbo: The Musical's (AHEM)" was “among all the brilliant arrangements and choreography in the show."
He pointed out that it took something old then made it fresh.
"Therein lies the difference," he added. "Which is why it is disheartening that there is still a culture out there, not just in entertainment, that somehow makes it okay to take credit, and be rewarded, for someone else’s work."
Ely admitted feeling "disappointed" for the "AHEB" crew because he knows they “poured all their hearts and souls into creating something that was true to the material and their craft.”
The last part of Ely’s post read: "In our day to day struggles against this oppressive life, the temptation is always there to take the fast route, the shortcut, the easy way to success. But we are human. I hope this matter is resolved soon and credit is given to those who deserve it."
His message came with an attachment of Jef’s post calling out CJ.
Even before Jeff, Myke, himself, tweeted his stand on the issue, shown here in part: “A guy copied/ripped-off our musical arrangements for #AngHulingElbimboMusical (musical treatment, concept) without permission..."
Bulletin Entertainment sought CJ’s statement on the issue and will include that here when he responds.