Senate passes Creative Industries Act on 3rd reading

The Senate approved on third and final reading a bill that seeks to develop and promote the Philippine creative industries during its hybrid plenary session Monday, May 23, 2022.

With 21 affirmative votes, no negative vote and no abstention, the chamber passed Senate Bill No. (SBN) 2455 or the Creative Industries Charter of the Philippines, which was sponsored by Sen. Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, chairperson of the Committee on Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship.

The bill defined creative industries as trades involving persons, whether natural or juridical, that produce cultural, artistic, and innovative goods and services originating in human creativity, skill, and talent and having a potential to create wealth through the generation and utilization of intellectual property.

SBN 2455 calls for the creation of a Creative Industries Development Council (CIDC) which is mandated to implement a long-term plan for the development and promotion of the country's creative industries through various programs aimed at creating opportunities and employment, nurturing human resources, ensuring financial-enabling mechanisms and providing incentives to encourage and sustain Filipino excellence in the creative industries.

The CIDC will be an attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and shall be composed of 19 members: 10 ex-officio members and nine regular members from the private sector with the DTI secretary as the chairperson of the council.

The creative industries, under the bill, shall include audiovisual media domain, digital interactive media domain, creative services domain, design domain, publishing and printed media domain, performing arts domain, visual arts domain, traditional cultural expressions domain and cultural sites domain on the organization of the CIDC.

The council shall establish the Creative Industries Investment Priority Plan containing a list of specific activities in the industry that may qualify for incentives.

The plan, Pimentel said, would include several components like well-defined and measurable economic goals and key performance indicators for the creative industries including value creation, contribution to the gross domestic product, job creation, export targets, and creative intellectual property targets. "To summarize, the government is mandated to provide support to creative entrepreneur companies and artists in the form of infrastructure support, research and development support, innovation support, technical and technological assistance, fiscal incentives, access to credit assistance and guarantee schemes, creative instruction and education, among others," Pimentel added.

To synchronize all government programs and benefits for the creative industries, the measure mandates the national secretariat of the CIDC to develop and maintain a website that will serve as the primary source of information on statistics, events, government programs and benefits to synchronize all government programs and benefits for the creative industries.

"We believe that creativity is the next big thing. People now sell ideas. So, if you want the economy to grow, you must develop and promote the Philippine creative industries," Pimentel added.

SB2455 is a consolidation of SBN 411 filed by Senators Imee Marcos and Leila De Lima and SBN 2361 filed by Sen. Ramon Bong Revilla Jr., taking into consideration House Bill No. 10107, which was passed on third and final reading by the House of Representatives.