DAY 105: MECQ

There is that saying that goes: The road to hell is lined with good intentions.  That is assuming that the intentions are really for the good of a greater number and not that of the one who drew the map.

The Other Side of the Pandemic

Perhaps as bad as the growing number of deaths brought about by this pandemic is the economic meltdown that the world is experiencing.  The dead are buried but the survivors live with the burden of a planet that has gone completely upside down.  Businesses are collapsing: governments are scrambling to find ways and means to bring the economy back to life or try to resuscitate what is left of the commercial debris.

A recent survey in the country showed that the workers of the Arts and Entertainment are the most badly hit by the closure of work resulting from COVID19.

Understandably so.  

For more than three months, work in the film, television and the rest of the entertainment industry came to a sudden halt as a precaution against the spread of the dreaded virus. There is something unique about this industry because it requires crowds.  You need more than a hundred people for a single day of shooting a film, perhaps even more for taping an episode of a prime time telenovela.  You need as many folks on the set to shoot a TV commercial or a digital content material --- maybe a little less but still a lot to mount a concert or stage play.  

And God knows how many people are needed for a live event to launch a product, celebrate a company anniversary or hold a convention. 
Needless to add, you even need more people to fill a cinema, a theater, a concert venue or the SMEX or the MOA Auditorium or wherever it is you choose to hold your concert.

All that froze mid-March because being with strangers had become dangerous. Not only dangerous --- but life threatening.

Literally thousands of people lost their work and have not gone back to the set despite the loosening of the quarantine rules because everything is still touch and go.  Everyone is waiting to see if things will go right or what can go wrong. The question remains: "Safe na ba to go back to work?"

Well, the question is not only that. The answer is people need to go back to work despite the clear and present risks involved. Hindi pa talagang safe ... but we have to make it as safe as possible.

Yes, we have to deal with the New Normal: the working conditions in mid-2020 has become so completely different from that of the first quarter of the year.  To insure the safety of all workers concerned, protocols have to be studied, agreed upon and eventually implemented not only on the set but especially in the preparation for productions. 

And this costs money.

As it is, producers and film workers are fighting against time to find the most plausible way to get back on the set despite the fact that it is still not sure when cinemas will be allowed to open ... or if people will have the courage to immediately return to movie houses even if there is social distancing but with no vaccine discovered.

TV shows need to return to the studios with strict new rules in place to make sure that everyone is guaranteed a plausible amount of health security.  

More than ever, the film studios as well as the production houses, the freelance workers whose very lifeline is the availability of projects and all the technicians who constitute the film and tv industries need the help of the government to be able to get their acts together.  At this point, the industry does not --- I repeat --- does not and should not be burdened by needless obstacles in its fight for survival.  

The Inter Guild Alliance

Because of the pressure of having to come up with guidelines for the Return to Work Scenario, the active workers of the industry --- they who have become the new generation of creative workers of both commercial and independent film making --- got together to form the Inter Guild Alliance (IGA). The sole purpose was to set down the procedures and rules to standardize safety measures on the sets of film, tv and commercials.  

The creation of the group was organic --- because the industry workers decided that they should be the ones to move in order to give momentum to the return of productions. If there was one good thing that the pandemic brought to the industry, then it was giving an opportunity for this generation of film artists and technicians to unite, talk and share a commonness of purpose and hopefully of vision and goal.

The IGA belabored its own set of protocols focusing on their individual specializations.  

That is, production designers made their own rules, cinematographers set their own standards, assistant directors, editors, directors and sound engineers worked on their own protocols then got together to revise and adapt to each other's needs.

While the protocols were being formulated, the IGA together with the Philippine Motion Pictures Producers Association (PMPPA) met to further refine and exchange ideas about how to make the IGA Protocol workable within the constraints of production budgets. This made a lot of sense: the producers were the money bags and it was from their coffers that projects are conceived and born.

The producers and the IGA came to a mutual agreement: what the workers suggested, the producers wanted.  

The IGA Protocol is the industry standard. This is because it was crafted by the industry workers for the well-being of those in the industry.

At this point, it was made very clear that while the IGA was finalizing the protocol, the PMPPA already threw in its support stating that this will be the guide followed by movie producers when shootings resume within the COVID19 quarantine period.

Television networks have already put together their own guidelines for the resumption of taping.  This is because the demands of a tv taping is very different from that of a movie shooting.

Commercial productions also have also assembled their own protocol for the making of digital content and other endeavors.

Then came this thing called the FDCP.  

The FDCP Factor

Aware that the IGA was already assembling its protocol because of their earlier talks, the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) carried out its own independent plans.  

After having met with representative workers in a number of sessions, this office drew up its own protocols then announced that this should be the guidelines to be followed. 

This announcement pre-empted the release of the guidelines still being fine tuned by the IGA. 

The release of the office's protocols days before the scheduled publication of the IGA counterpart left a very bad taste in the mouth considering that the IGA was in contact with the FDCP.

The premature announcement generated tension between the industry and the office that is meant to support film productions because there was an apparent clash of interests.  

Whereas everybody threw in their support for the IGA Document, FDCP insisted --- by virtue of its government affiliation --- that they should be the ones to be followed and nobody else. 

An open line of communication remained between all parties concerned with the PMPPA insisting that the more realistic and effective protocols were the ones prepared by the actual workers of the industry and not those prescribed by a government office with possibly little experience in on-the-set situations and problems.  Such information can never be acquired through the so-called token consultations much less by synthesizing protocols from the U.S., Europe and other Asian countries.

The PMPPA reiterated: it was following the IGA procedures and not that issued by the FDCP.

It was the insistence of FDCP that they should be ones followed that generated further aggravation and distrust from the part of the industry with that office. Despite all requests for reconsideration, the FDCP held its ground and reminded everyone that their protocol was the officially recognized procedure by the government.

Without any further consultation or communication, FDCP linked with the Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Labor (DOLE) to come up with a Joint Order Agreement (JOA) emphasizing the FDCP protocol as the one and only official guideline for the back to work procedure not only for films but for the audio visual industry.

The same protocol was to be followed by movies, television, live concerts and events, commercial shoots and even theater.  

Anyone who has any familiarity with these platforms would know that there is no way you can use the safety procedures for films with that of theater ... more so with a concert.  But then that was only one of the rather laughable matters that made people not take this hastily put together regulation seriously.

The final pint of fuel to agitate the fire was the release of the FDCP Advisory 06 late Sunday afternoon.

The advisory was directed to everyone.  The Advisory reminded all sectors that they are now answerable to FDCP and that all productions must register their projects with their office seven days before actual shooting. 

This even includes events and productions without audiences or even panel discussions recorded and posted in social media platforms. Does that mean that even Facebook Live panel discussions and vloggers must line up outside their offices to register their proposed broadcasts? Wow, ha?

All these are said to be done in the name of insuring the safety of the workers, so it is said.  But as to why every media activity should be logged in an office like the FDCP is one of the great mysteries of the twenty-first century comparable to the puzzle of the Bermuda Triangle.

The bonfire of vanities has been lit and the fire reached out to the sky by Sunday evening.

How will this work out if the networks already have set their own safety policies and procedures, the commercial productions have already designed their own set of rules and the movie studios were endorsing the IGA's work? 

What came about was more confusion as to who follows what.  This is the last problem people wanted because they would rather focus on going back to work than wondering which rules to follow.

The Questions

Returning to the first statement of this blog, the road to hell is indeed lined with good intentions.  Perhaps the intentions are good but the timing and the rendition are not only bad: they are cataclysmic.

When an industry is literally flat on its back on the ground and trying to get up, you do not step over it and say "you follow what I say." 

An important measure of effective leadership is the ability or even the capacity to listen to the constituents to find out what they feel and need. Shutting one's faculties to these important data is tantamount not to leadership but to other terms which are unsavory and synonymous to "un-democratic." Maybe even "Imeldific."

Now what has become of paramount importance is knowing the exact mandate of the FDCP --- why it is still there and why it was created close to two decades ago.  

The principal proponents from the industry were the late Marilou Diaz-Abaya and Laurice Guillen, who battled it out with Congress to create the council meant for two distinct purposes: (a) to supervise the Cinema Evaluation Board (CEB) that would assess quality Filipino films to be rewarded with tax incentives and (b) provide developmental projects and programs to upgrade the artistic and technical quality of Filipino film making and help market local films abroad through international film festivals, markets and other opportunities for a wider exposure.

Laurice Guillen was the first chairman of the FDCP when it was established.

To this day, the Council is headed by a Chairman and comprised of (a) the President of the Film Academy of the Philippines  (b) The President of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (or his representative)  (c) The Secretary of the Department of Education (or his representative) (d) The Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry (or his representative) (e) The Chairman of the Metro Manila Development Authority (or his representative)  (f) The Chairman of the Cinema Committee of the National Commission of Cultural and Arts (g) The President of the League of Mayors (or his representative) (h) A representative from a recognized group of film workers  (i) A representative of a recognized group of film producers and (j) a representative from the Academe.

These are all presidential appointees even if the FDCP is under the supervision of the Department of Education.  The present status of the council is that it has no representative from film workers as well as no representative from the producers. Today, there are only eight members in the Council.

All projects and endeavors of the FDCP are not the pursuits of the Chairman alone but the council that empowers the one who holds the position to plan and implement these activities. The members of the council are also accountable to what they approve or disapprove as far as the activities of the office.

Repeatedly it is underlined that the FDCP is and should be the operational function of a council. 

As illustrated by the choice of membership of the council that should approve its policies and programs, the FDCP was designed to supplement the growth of industry standards and facilitate its positioning in the international market which is why the NCCA and the CCP are there ... and so are the mayors and the MMDA.  

The council is about promoting films not legislating policies involving films.

Never was it meant to intervene with labor practices, issuance of permits or requiring registration. It should not even intervene with the operation of the various guilds and their activities.  That is the territory of the Film Academy of the Philippines ... not the FDCP.

In its present mandate, the FDCP was created for purposes of supporting the industry through developmental pursuits and has no regulatory power whatsoever to make demands that would point to the monitoring of industries owned and operated by the private sector.

When the Cinema Evaluation Board (CEB) was abolished by a ruling of the Supreme Court, the FDCP lost half of what it was supposed to tend.  The only job left was to sell the country in international festivals and to bring opportunities for the Filipino filmmakers to be exposed to the world market. But with travel restrictions brought about by COVID19 --- uhm, all the international film festivals went online and there was not much travelling to do.

So what to do ... what to do?

Now the FDCP is proposing an expansion of its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR.

This is to include a much greater extent of power and territory.  This would validate the inclusion of other audio visual industries like television, commercial productions, live events and theater.  Because as it is ... the FDCP should be working only for the F --- and that is FILM and not FOR EVERYTHING.

As to how the rest of the "audio visual industry" suddenly fell under the umbrella of FDCP, that is a different story all together.  Just blame this as part of the confusion brought about by the pandemic.

And come to think of it, this pandemic has actually opened a lot of gates from which people can benefit from the confusion. Hindi ba?

The Sadness of it All

There is the good news and the bad news.

The bad news is that all trust has been lost between a number of film industry sectors with that of the FDCP.  The goodwill that seemed to have existed before between the industry and the FDCP seemed to have evaporated and turned into steam.

After a series of debacles which started with the JMCm the trust was already lost.  

The JMC involves the safeguard of film workers on the set which was signed, sealed and delivered without adequate consultation with one of the important stakeholders: the producers.

The JMC was passed and published with producers caught by surprise by the inclusion of so many items which were perceived as impractical.  More than that, these addenda bloated the budgets of productions.  Even before the lock down, everyone in the business knew that the numbers being brought in at the box office were already dismal. Any added cost would further cripple productions.

The safety of people on the set is a concern for everybody.  There is nothing wrong with that --- and to find ways of further professionalizing the industry should be encouraged. But consultations are imperatives: policies cannot be made like pulling rabbits out of hats.  People affected by policies should be told and conversations, discussions even arguments should be allowed to be able to ventilate apprehensions and clarify issues.

After a meeting in late February with producers at Annabel's Restaurant in Tomas Morato reacting to the JMC, FDCP promised to review the material and accommodate necessary changes as suggested by producers. It was agreed that suggestions must not compromise the original intent of the proposal.  

Yet sometime late March during the lock down in a zoom meeting with the PMPPA, the JMC still remained in its because FDCP categorically stated that it was already a done deal. Of course, this statement created a major lesion between the PMPPA and that office. What was that promise to wait for the revisions, blah, blah, blah ... so that the producers can throw in their inputs?  What was that February meeting for? To savor the lugaw and tokwa't baboy served over merienda?

Well, it is true. By the time the producers reacted, the JMC had already been published so you really cannot do any revisions. So take it: that seems to be the modus operandi --- You have no choice because we have decided.

Then came the protocol and now this Joint Order Agreement (JOA) between the FDCP and the two government departments.  

Yes, it has reached a point that dialogue is no longer an alternative because it is easier for a biologically deaf person to listen than one who simply chooses not to hear.  There is nothing more tiring and frustrating than an exercise in futility.

With the issuance of the advisory late yesterday, even those who wanted to give people the benefit of a doubt or another chance were convinced as to what direction this narrative was going. 

That is what is most painful.

It is not going to make life any easier for any of us working in films. Or television. Or commercials. 

Now there is another bureaucratic layer where every project must first pass through the office of the FDCP.

And we still ask more than twenty-four hours later: Bakit?

Personally, I am more saddened than angered by the turn of events.

I am saddened because of the total loss of trust and respect for certain persons who I once thought had the best intentions for the industry that I love and given my life. I actually feel so stupid even believing them in the first place.

People can and will disappoint but it is hard to even feign civility when trust has been so diminished from those who you once thought were worth your time and effort. And, yes, respect.

You blame yourself for being too trusting while at the same time you hold back all the self-blame to avoid being completely cynical.

At this point, we in the film industry only want to get back to work. 

 Any form of added bureaucratic process imposed on any of the sectors of our business becomes such an intolerable burden. This is even harder to accept because this comes from an institution you once hoped would provide the crutches for our damaged industry in these most trying times in recent history.

We do not need messiahs of whatever form --- but we want to rise with our own hard work and determination and together.  

For this is the only way we can survive this economic meltdown brought by the pandemic  --- by being united and determined to go against all odds. 

Now that is the good news.  

The Industry is coming together as one --- as we are beginning to see the importance of watching each other's backs. We only hope this experience facilitates all the stakeholders to see how each and everyone of us is as important --- no, more important than any institution --- if we want to validate our dignity as an industry.

For each day when you find that your production manager is now selling kare-kare and tokwa't baboy on line --- or that your location manager has become a delivery boy plying the streets of Manila on his bike to keep his family alive, or that your Utility Boys are literally walking the streets trying to find any temporary employment to get them through the day ... you are stabbed in the heart.  

When you hear all the horror stories of your co-workers scrimping in order to stretch their remaining savings until there is work available ... you realize one thing: you do not need anybody making it harder for you and your brothers to rise up and get back on our feet.

You simply shove these obstacles aside and say, "We are the industry.  We will do it our way."