My wish list for Year 2002

It’s the first day of the year and I’d like to make a wish list not only for myself, but for the local entertainment industry and its people as well. Below is my wish list for the year 2002.

• Safety for Lipa City mayor Vilma Santos and family. In this country, when you do what is good and what is right, you make enemies. Vilma has proven to be a good mayor to her constituents in Lipa. But look at the trouble it brought her. Here’s wishing she’d finally lick all the bad elements in this otherwise beautiful and peaceful city in Batangas.

• More movies and concerts for Nora Aunor. Really, it’s about time she returned to making movies. And she should be doing more concerts too. After all, during her Music Museum concert last October, she was able to prove to everyone that the legendary singing voice that became her ticket to fame is still there – golden as ever.

• Another dramatic role for Sharon Cuneta. With the box office success of Pagdating ng Panahon, a light comedy-romance movie, maybe she can shift gears again and do another drama role that will duplicate or even surpass the critical acclaim she received for Madrasta and Nang Iniwan Mo Ako.

• A re-team up for Maricel Soriano and Cesar Montano on television. How I miss their old ABS-CBN sitcom, Kaya ni Mister, Kaya ni Misis. It was a very wholesome show - one of the very few local programs on TV that imparted values to the young viewers. It was actually a ’90s John & Marsha. Too bad, it had to go.

• Continued good behavior for Robin Padilla. I am so happy that filmdom’s former bad boy is back on top once more - with a good boy image to boot.

• Complete recovery for Vandolph. Mercifully, Vandolph seems to be recovering after that horrible, horrible accident he met last November in Pangasinan. But the process doesn’t stop there. Even if he recovers physically (and we’re praying he does), he still has to heal emotionally – which I think is the more difficult part. So let’s continue praying for him and his family.

• A magical cure for Alma Moreno’s multiple sclerosis. It’s bad enough that she’s going through a terrible nightmare because of what happened to Vandolph. Worse, she herself isn’t in the best of health - having been diagnosed as having multiple sclerosis months before Vandolph’s accident.

• Complete healing for Rio Diaz. We may not be in touch with each other anymore, but I continue to pray for her every day. And I know of a lot of other people who do the same.

• Reasonably knowledgeable contestants in game shows. Was it in Kris Aquino’s Game KNB? where I saw to my horror public school teacher who fumbled over answers to some really basic questions?

• Conservative groups would find other issues to protest other than sex flicks. Look, this country has a million other problems. Why don’t they focus on those? Why not protest corruption in government? That should keep them busy the whole year.

• More support from the government for the film industry. The government supposedly reduced some of the taxes it has been imposing on the movie industry. However, you don’t hear anyone shouting hooray. Considering the fact that it is the most heavily taxed among the industries, reducing its taxes even to half still proves to be quite a load from the movie producers’ end.

• For the government to remove the 20 percent withholding tax on entertainers’ talent fees. Since its imposition last October, film and TV personalities affected by this stupid ruling have been shouting ouch, ouch, ouch! It’s bad enough that offers are now few and far between (considering the sad state of the industry). And now, the government is robbing entertainers blind by automatically deducting a 20 percent withholding tax off their salaries. And what do they get from the government in return? Absolutely nothing. It’s been 55 days since Nida Blanca was killed and government authorities are still facing a blank wall. Why, some local governments aren’t even providing basic services to its constituents. In San Juan, for instance, garbage remains uncollected. In some cities and municipalities, you no longer even feel safe walking on the streets even in broad daylight.

• For cities and municipalities to give tax rebates to movies rated A and B by the Film Ratings Board. When it comes to collecting taxes, some cities and municipalities are just so eager to squeeze the last penny out of the pocketbooks of the taxpayers. But when it comes to giving incentives in forms of tax rebates to quality films that passed the standards of the Film Ratings Board, these thick-skinned mayors wouldn’t badge. At the moment, only Quezon City, Antipolo, Cainta and Taytay give tax rebates to FRB-rated movies.

• No more painful and violent deaths in show business. Well, we all have to go. But I hope and pray that deaths won’t be as painful. And I wish to see the end of the chain of deaths that had hounded the entertainment industry in the latter part of 2001.

• For the Nida Blanca murder case to be solved – finally. I think this is in the wish list of everyone – those in show business and even ordinary people who were entertained by this great film and TV icon of the 20th century that was Nida Blanca.