For more than seven decades, Famas or the Filipino Academy for Movie Arts and Sciences has endured despite the numerous imbroglios it has gotten into.
The recent fiasco, though, involving veteran actress Eva Darren, is probably the last straw that could finally put, not necessarily itself, but the issue, to rest.
The discussions, past and present, about the perennial corruption inside the Famas institution have been blown out of proportion.
In effect, they have contributed to the already muddled, directionless and reluctant resolve to expose the real culprits in the decadence of the local entertainment industry and the whole nation as well.
Famas as an institution is just a reflection of our sick society.
Because of our being considerate, forgetful and forgiving as Filipinos without a compassionate, objective, truthful, comprehensive and just examination and understanding of an issue or a misdemeanor or a simple mistake, we tend to just shrug it off as a mere occurrence without thinking of its long-term effect.
Most of us are not confrontational.
We tend to beat around the bush for fear of reproach or losing a friend or an opportunity.
We keep silent to tell the truth on a crime committed however clear as daylight it has become in the face of intimidation or whitewash.
As a matter of fact, it isn't Famas which is vicious but the entire cacophony of debates is.
They're all discordant, noisy yet hollow discussions because they don't address the truest and the most real sources of the issue.
Escapes of all sorts are unearthed to save faces.
The problem also lies in our capacity for tolerance of bad habits like favoring or condoning exploitation, deception and conceit.
To begin with, selling of exorbitant dinner tickets like P5,000.00 per plate is greed compounded by the involvement of avaricious intents from all sides of the business enterprise only to pocket its profits into some personal, selfish motives of earning keeps.
For whom?
The ordinary Filipinos which include the movie fans or moviegoers/ticket buyers are left behind only to be treated as jumping boards or pawns or utilities to be used in the climb to the top of the heap.
These fans are just spectators who are excluded from the dividends of the loot.
It’s like the Filipino saying “lumalakad ang kalabasa, naiiwan ang bunga (the squash plant is creeping but the fruits are lagging behind).”
Many are set aside in pursuit of the proverbial good luck bucks if not earnest money only loose changes are accorded them while a few are laughing their way to the banks.
Award giving these days, except for some credible givers, is a commercial exercise.
Most of the criteria (if most of them have any) of the popular award bodies are not geared towards the liberation of society and its people through the medium of cinema but a hodge podge set of subjective interpretations not gauged on solid parameters of artistic vision.
How do we expect socially committed film artists to change the world for the better if we measure them on half-baked and pseudo criticisms?
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