Meanwhile, certain quarters in the local entertainment industry have spoken about some questionable provisions in the final form of Senate Bill No. 2505, or An Act Protecting the Welfare of Workers in the Movie and Television Industry. 

After the celebratory air in the halls of the Senate early this year, whipped up by TV and film luminaries mobilized by entertainment-industry leaders in lobbying for and lending support to the measure, a number of movie/TV stars and workers are voicing unhappiness about some of its provisions.

Listen to Leo Martinez, TV and movie actor, writer and director, and former director general of the Film Academy of the Philippines, expressing disappointment in his video as Congressman Manhik-Manaog: 

“Akala ko ba, itong ‘Eddie Garcia Bill ay para sa mga manggagawa. Ay, bakit sa tingin ko ay kampi at pabor pa rin … sa mga networks at mga prodyuser.” (I thought this bill is for the workers. But in my view, it is siding with and favoring networks and producers.)

According to Martinez, one just has to refer to Section 9 of the measure stating that the maximum weekly working hours for audiovisual projects, per the Department of Labor and Employment based on labor laws and the International Labor Organization convention, is 40 hours standard plus 8 hours for overtime, or a total of 48 hours per week.

He wondered why the bill mentions too many working hours: “Eh bakit yang ‘Eddie Garcia bill’ na yan ay sobra-sobra? Sixty hours daw.” 

Off-camera workers do not benefit from the bill’s final version, Martinez pointed out:

“Kung 14 hours lang ang para sa lahat nang manggagawa, eh paano naman yung nadating bago dumating ang mga artista? Sila rin ang nagpa-pack at huling umaalis. Eh di 16, 17, 18 ang trabaho nila. Okay pa ba yun?” (If 14-hour work is applied to all workers, what about those who come to the set earlier and leave later than the actors? So, their working hours are 16, 17, 18. Is that okay?)

Even actors of senior age will be affected by certain stipulations in the bill, he added:  “Nawala na rin yung sa senior citizen. Dapat eight hours lang ang trabaho nila. Bakit? Anong nangyari?” (The provisions for senior-citizen actors are missing as well. They should work eight hours only. Why? What happened?) 

Martinez raised the issue of proper remuneration for talents, and cited a provision in the Intellectual Property Law stating that actors can collect fees not greater than 5% of their original daily talent fee whenever their films and TV shows are reshown. For example, he said, if one’s daily talent fee is P1,000, one is entitled to P50 for every replay of one’s work.

“Eh bakit ang ‘Eddie Garcia bill,’ kumampi na naman sa mga network at prodyuser?” he said. “Ang remuneration daw ay depende sa pag-uusap ng artista at ng network o prodyuser. Ay! Mali yan!” (Why is the bill again favoring the networks and producers? It says the remuneration depends on the arrangement between the actor and the network or producer. That’s not right.)

Martinez also said it’s unlawful for the intellectual property rights of talents to be bound to contracts with networks and producers. 

Other members of the entertainment industry have likewise raised concerns about the approved Senate bill. 

Actor and producer Carlo Maceda, for one, recalled how he attended the Senate hearing on the bill early this year to fight for the basic human rights of and better working conditions for entertainment workers, but it all turned out to be a farce:  “Nakipaglaban pa kami para sa mga karapatan namin bilang mga actor, lalo na sa pasahod at oras ng paggawa, pero moro-moro lang pala yon.”

But there’s nothing more to be done, Maceda said, adding that he considered Senators Robinhood Padilla, Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Jr., Jinggoy Estrada, Lito Lapid and others who worked on the measure as his senior colleagues and elder brothers in the industry: “Wala tayong magagawa. Itinuturing ko silang mga kuya.”

On the other hand, action star and now full-fledged director Efren Reyes Jr. said he does not want to take sides and make enemies.

The post What went wrong with the ‘Eddie Garcia bill’? appeared first on CoverStory.

Veteran actor and comedian Leo Martinez is not happy with Senate Bill No. 2505, otherwise known as the Eddie Garcia Bill. 

“I do not support it,” Martinez said, adding that he is in favor of the House of Representatives’ version of the measure. Martinez is known for his alter ego, “Tongressman Manhik Manaog,” and was for some 20 years the director general of the Film Academy of the Philippines.

SB 2505 seeks “to protect and support movie and television workers from unfair treatment and poor working conditions,” according to Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, its main sponsor. 

2 provisions

Martinez cited two provisions concerning work hours and remuneration rights for his negative reaction. 

The bill provides that regular work hours on film shoots and television taping sessions will be 8-14 hours a day, exclusive of meal time. Martinez is strongly against this. “No to 14 hours of work,” he said. “Adding two hours for meal breaks, that will be 16 hours on the set, and it does not count the egress of the crew who still needs to return the equipment to the offices of the supplier.”

The bill also proposes that the first two hours for the application of special effects such as prosthetics not be considered work hours. To this, Martinez said: “The application of makeup and especially prosthetics is a burden that the actor endures at the instruction of the employer. Why not include this in the working hours? If an actor needs two hours for makeup and prosthetics and does 14 hours maximum allowable hours, he would work for 16 hours straight excluding meal periods.”

For Tirso Cruz III, actor and head of the Film Development Council of the Philippines, “14 is good [but] inclusive of lunch and dinner breaks.”

The Inter Guild Alliance, the umbrella organization of the different guilds in the industry, proposed a maximum16-hour work day inclusive of meal breaks, with the count starting when the first person arrives on the set and ending with the tail lights, when the last person leaves the set. 

On matters of remuneration rights, Section 25 of the bill recognizes that a worker shall be paid additional compensation for every subsequent use or broadcast of a performance or intellectual property. However, the same section states: “Nothing herein shall prevent the worker from agreeing to transfer all intellectual property rights in favor of the employer or principal.”

Martinez, who chairs the board of trustees of the Performers’ Rights Society of the Philippines, wants the statement deleted. “We have acceded to the Beijing Treaty for Audiovisual Performances without reservations,” he said. The treaty provides for the right to remuneration in exchange for the transfer of all exclusive rights.” He said the “unless” provision means “a performer can no longer prevent the use of his work product. Once the exclusive rights are transferred, the producer has all the authority needed to exhibit or cause the broadcast of the film or program.”

Tripartite Council

House Bill No.1270, which was approved on Feb. 23, 2023, provides that “normal work hours shall be eight (8) hours a day, which can be extended to a maximum of twelve (12) hours, served intermittently or continuously, exclusive of meal periods.” However, it adds, “permissible working hours in excess of the normal work hours shall be determined by the Tripartite Council.”  

Th House cited Republic Act No. 8293 or the Intellectual Property Code as basis for the provision “that a performer shall enjoy the inalienable right to participate in the gross proceeds of any subsequent use or broadcasting of such performance or intellectual property to the extent of five percent (5%) as additional remuneration.”

A bicameral session to unite the two versions of the bill is yet to be scheduled. But Martinez said he would initiate a strong lobby before the bicameral session for the adoption of the House version, specifically in the two provisions that he opposes.

Other industry insiders are looking forward to the creation of the Tripartite Council to help fill the gaps in the legislation.

The post Leo Martinez opposes Senate version of Eddie Garcia Bill appeared first on CoverStory.