Prospects of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) having a building of its own to store old motion pictures of the Philippines, probably in Intramuros, Manila are bright.
This, after Tirso Cruz III, FDCP chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), said he would soon submit to Senator Mark Villar, chairman of the Senate Fiinance Sub-Committee ‘’M’’, plans for a three-story building with a basement that would be able to contain vaults for the archiving of old motion pictures, including pictures during the ‘’Golden Era" of the local film industry.
The building would sit on an 800-square meter lot, he pointed out. Cruz said it would be ‘’our dream come true".
There are four senators who belong to the film industry. They are Senators Manuel ‘’Lito’’ Lapid, Ramon ‘’Bong’’ Revilla Jr., Jose ‘’Jinggoy’’ Ejerecito Estrada and Robinhood Padilla.
It is high time to help the industry, said Estrada and Padilla.
Villar approved FDCP’s proposed 2023 P245.35-million budget, which shall be deliberated on the Senate floor when the upper chamber resumes regular session next month.
The Villar committee also approved ther budgets of the Zamboanga City Special Economic Zone Authority (ZCSEZA) and the Cagayan Economic Zone (CEZA) Authority.
It, however, suspended public hearing on the proposed budget of the Optical Media Board (OMB) following a motion to Senator Jose ‘’Jinggoy’’ Ejercito Estrada after Jeremy Marquez admitted that his office collected less than P100,000 in administrative costs from January to September, 2022.
Marquez’s predecessors collected P734 million in 2018; P309 million in 2019; P213 million in 2020; and P78 million in 2021, Estrada said.
Asked to explain why the OMB collected a very little amount, Marquez said that the OMB under his watch was ’’business-friendly.’’ Irked, Estrada asked the Villar committee to suspend OMB’s budget hearing.
Cruz said the FDCP’s proposed budget would help film producers after suffering losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Film producers are in dire straits and they need support, he added.
‘’They are just going through the motion,’’ he stressed.
He said FDCP’s vaults contain 44,221 elements including motion pictures, installed some eight inches above floor level.
Floodwaters are now approaching dangerous levels, he pointed out.
The cost to restore old films range from P2 million to P8 million, ‘’depending on the damage". he added.
Cruz said that FDCP rents its building at P6 million a year.