Why R.A. 9167 is unconstitutional

Despite all earnest efforts to bring about peace between the two warring fraternities, Alpha Kappa Rho and Tau Gamma Phi, the killings have continued. Well, Mayor Tomas Osmeña already did his best… so too with Governor Gwen Garcia. Now, even his eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal wants to mediate. But come now, do these people really want peace? If they really wanted peace… they don't need anyone to mediate for them. All they need to do is declare a truce. But if you ask me, the animosities between these two fraternities are just as bad or even worse than the Palestinians and Israelis; I don't think these people could ever see eye-to-eye!

So allow me to reiterate my stand on how to deal with deadly fraternities… declare them illegal and jail any card-bearing member of either fraternity. Sure, that wouldn't make these people go underground, but at least we've put them on the same level as those dreaded old prison gangs like the Oxo vs. Sigue-sigue gangs of yesteryears. Cebu is already facing too much trouble from vigilante killings; add the terror threat to this equation and I'll tell you, we need troublesome fraternities like we need a hole in the head!

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I was told that Film Director Laurice Guillen-Feleo who belongs to the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) was in town last Tuesday for an executive meeting with Cebu City officials and that I was belatedly invited to this meeting. Unfortunately I had another important meeting, but just the same, I'm glad that finally Mayor Tomas Osmeña realized that the Republic Act. No.9167 which grants "grade A or B" films exemption from the payment of amusement taxes is detrimental to the City of Cebu or other Local Government Units (LGUs) as it deprives them of this much needed revenue. More so that these revenues are already dwindling.

The problem begins with the fact that the Local Government Code of 1992 grants the LGUs authority to collect taxes from movie houses or theaters. So when Congress approved RA 9167, which the President signed into a law, it allowed the Film Academy to collect amusement taxes on "graded films" directly from the theater owners. Thus, the Film Academy was taking revenues away from the City of Cebu.

However, since the City of Cebu refused to recognize this law, the people caught in the middle are the theater owners or operators who are in a quandary as to where the payment for taxes should be made. To play safe, all theaters are still paying its amusement taxes to the City of Cebu, which is why Laurice Guillen-Feleo was in town to explain to Cebu City officials that the P5.6 million paid by the theaters in Cebu City belongs to the Film Academy, which by RA 9167, they are authorized to collect.

But then, Mayor Osmeña believes that RA 9167 is unconstitutional because it virtually gives the NGOs like the Film Academy taxing power. But then believing a law to be unconstitutional is one's opinion. The Judiciary must declare a law unconstitutional so it will no longer have the full force and effect of a law. I was watching the show of Jay Leno the other night and he read something that someone wrote to him, that said, "You haven't broken any laws until you've been caught!" Until a law is declared unconstitutional, we have to respect the law… otherwise there's anarchy!

Aside from the constitutionality issues raised by Mayor Osmeña, the theater owners here, including the National Cinema Association of the Philippines (NCAP) believes that RA 9167 should be declared unconstitutional because it is a "class legislation". RA 9167 was enacted by Congress purportedly to help the beleaguered Film Industry.

Unfortunately Congress made a terrible mistake by referring to the Film Industry only from the standpoint of the film producers or directors. In their effort to help or even save the Film Industry, they never included theaters in the equation… as if the theaters didn't have any of the problems plaguing the Film Industry.

All told, ten years ago there were more than 800 screens or movie houses throughout the country. Today, there are less than 500 screens, which gives you an idea of how many theaters folded up because of the problems of film piracy, which the movie producers also suffer, and high cost of operation, a problem exclusive to theater owners and operators.

Under the present constitution, there should be equal treatment under the law and this is one law that only helps one group from the beleaguered Film Industry. It asks theaters to collect their share, but they're just too greedy to give a portion of this money to the theater owners who are equally in bad economic shape like the rest of the Film Industry.

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila's columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com