REVILLA COMMENDS SENATE APPROVAL OF COMMITTEE REPORT 56

In pursuit of his advocacy of reviving the once flourishing movie industry, Senator Bong Revilla thanked his fellow senators for the approval of Committee Report 56 which approved Senate Bill 2325 on second reading, to reduce the amusement tax slapped on movies and appealed for their further support towards the passage of the Amusement Tax Bill.

Revilla filed Senate Bill 717 to lower the amusement tax to 10 percent from the present 30 percent. He later withdrew it out of delicadeza and to avoid possible conflict of interest- his family being the owners of Imus Productions, a major stakeholder in the local motion picture industry. The senator also withdrew his co-sponsorship of the measure for the same consideration.

"Public perception that a senator may be serving the interest of a particular sector and favoring it because he has ties with that sector- in this case , the film industry- should be avoided. Kaya naman kahit napakalapit nito sa aking puso bilang produkto ng industriya, pinili ko na lang na i-inhibit ang sarili ko. After all, I believe that the measure is in good hands with other senators supporting it," said Revilla, chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media.

National Cinema Association of the Philippines (NCAP) President Roesholm Camaligan thanked Revilla and the Senate for the measure's approval on second reading. "The local film industry is very grateful to the Senate. We see their recognition of the importance of movies in the development of our people, and in preserving and promoting our national values, culture and heritage. Finally, we see the light at the end of the tunnel towards the industry getting a much needed boost in the arm from the government," he said.

Aside from Camaligan, Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) Chairman Esperidion Laxa, Solar Entertainment President Wilson Tieng, Film producer Dominic Du, NCAP Director Secretary Ed Sason, Actor Philip Salvador, and other stakeholders of the film industry also attended yesterday's session and welcomed the measure's approval on second reading.

Revilla noted that aside from other factors such as film piracy and high cost of production, the movie industry is hampered by numerous tax impositions. These include the 30% amusement tax, 12% Value Added Tax (VAT) on materials on both production and post production processing, another 12% VAT on gross ticket sales, income taxes and other fees, charges, licenses, and permits.

"It is no exaggeration to say that our movie industry is one of the most, if not the most heavily taxed industries in the country. It is very unfair that the movie industry is taxed more than other more capable industries, "he said.

The lawmaker stressed that the Philippines heavily imposes taxes in the movie industry compared to other countries such as South Korea which imposes only a total of 7.5% of gross as taxes on motion pictures and Thailand which does not impose VAT and only an equivalent of 1 peso and 50 centavos in municipal taxes. He further bared that Taiwan imposes only 7.62% of gross as taxes on films; Singapore 3%; Indonesia 20%; France 11%; Germany 2%; Greece 4% to 12%; Israel 2.5 %; Italy 9%; Lebanon 5%; Portugal 7 1/2%; Switzerland 0.15%; and Malaysia 25% to 31% VAT.