Laws are inherent in the community of nations.
Generally, what are laws for?
Two of the many purposes of law is to maintain standards and to protect rights and liberties.
In the field of labor, for instance, application of law is required to subscribe to and provide better if not the best working hours, conditions and environment for workers.
It is also to warrant that the labor rights of the workers as human beings are secured.
Categorically, it is uniform in all workplaces.
To illustrate inclusively, the ideals of quality employment must also apply to the labor situations in the local entertainment industry.
Glitzy and glamorous they might be in the realm of the magical and the mythological, however, they have feet of clay, movie and television stars who are role-playing onscreen are workers as well.
Off-cam creatives like directors, screenwriters, production designers, soundmen, lights men, cameramen, utility, gaffers, editors, colorists etc. are also toilers
When the Eddie Garcia Bill was drafted and filed in the Senate, its primary concern was to regulate the working hours, standardize earnings, uplift the dignity, regulate working time etc. of movie and TV workers.
The creation of the bill came immediately after the accident that happened to actor Eddie Garcia when he tripped on an electrical cable on the set of a TV drama that caused his hospitalization, and eventually, his death.
Now it is approved by the Senate awaiting the signature of the President to become a law.
But Leo Martinez, actor and former Director-General of the Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP), got a copy of the bill, perused, contemplated and reacted to it.
In his vlog as the satirist Congressman Manhik-Manaog from Lakas Tama Party, Leo lambasted the final draft.
He said that the bill, short of saying “bull...,” is anti-movie and television workers.
Martinez expected the bill to be pro-entertainment toilers but it proved otherwise.
The comedian underscored the total number of hours an audio-visual worker must fulfill and found them unlawful.
"Sa Eddie Garcia Bill, sixty hours maximum ang working hours per week samantalang sinasabi ng batas, lokal man o hindi, ng (According to the bill, sixty hours is the maximum working time weekly while the laws, local and otherwise), Department of Labor and Employment, ng (of) international labor conventions na (that) forty hours ang (is the) standard working time with eight maximum hours overtime per week," said the film, stage and tube actor.
The provisions that Senior Citizen actors are entitled to only an eight-hour work which Leo has discovered is missing in the measure. "What happened?" he wondered.
Rights to remuneration were also explained by Martinez in his vlog.
"...Ang isang artista ay maaaring sumingil nang hindi hihigit sa 5% ng kanilang original daily talent fee tuwing ire-replay ang kanilang ginawang pelikula o TV show. Samakatuwid, kung P1,000.00 ang iyong daily talent fee, fifty pesos dapat ang ibabayad sa'yo tuwing ire-replay ang ginawa mo (...Actors can collect not greater than 5% of their original daily talent fees every time their works are re-shown. Therefore, if your daily talent fee is P1,000.00, P50.00 should be paid to you for the rescreening of your work).
"E, bakit ang Eddie Garcia Bill, kumampi sa networks at mga prodyuser na ang pagbabayad ay sa usapan ng artista at ng prodyuser (Why the bill sides with networks and producers by stipulating that remuneration is an arrangement between the actor and the producer?)."
Leo also harped on the rights of actors/artists/talents to intellectual property possessions.
He reiterated that the intellectual properties of actors are not transferable to networks and producers through contracts.
"Hindi puwede 'yon. Kailangan ay legislation para maipasa ang intellectual properties sa prodyuser o network (It's against the law. A legislation is needed to transfer an intellectual property to a network or producer)," Martinez elucidated.
In addition, intellectual properties are not only confined to the performances of actors onscreen but also the performances of the director, writer and other creatives and technicians off-cam.
Eddie Garcia Bill has still many gray areas to clear out before it is signed into a law.
***
We contacted Imelda Papin (President of the Katipunan ng mga Artista ng Pelikulang Pilipino at Telebisyon (KAPPT) or the Actors Guild of the Philippines), for her reactions to the diatribe of Leo.
As head of the group of Filipino actors, Imelda has to uphold the interests of the film and TV workers whose labor benefits are stifled by the bill.
These movie and television workers are the ones which the bill must protect as Imelda knows from Adam.
"Magmiting pa kami tungkol sa aming stand tungkol sa sinabi ni Leo. This week, miting namin para iisa lang ang boses ko at ng (We will still meet about our stand about what Leo had said. We'll meet so that there will only one voice from me and the) KAPPT," said Papin.
***
What was sure was the sweet and close meeting of Kathryn Bernardo and Alden Richards after a series of reunions between the two celebs who are rumored to be dancing to sweet music together.
Kathryn and Alden were beside each other on and off-stage when they personally received their Box-Office King and Queen awards from the Guillermo Mendoza Memorial Awards recently
The couple was extra caring with each other on and off-stage.
The first two meetings of Bernardo and Richards this earlier quarters of the year were during Kath's birthday and housewarming, respectively.
According to Alden, what is going on between them is a private matter they alone would keep to themselves.
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