Will someone tell Tita Cory to shut up? She’s sounding like a broken record demanding Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) to resign, so that perhaps she and her unlikely pal, deposed Pres. Joseph “Erap” Estrada can be part of their proposed “caretaker” government. We know too well that Tita Cory and her motley bunch of political has-beens tried to restart another EDSA Revolt last Monday, but they failed miserably.
The reason is crystal clear; changing the head of a corrupt administration will not necessarily result in a government that is corruption-free. Our best example is the Arroyo Administration that came in after Erap was deposed. Look where it has brought this country? Changing heads have been an old Imperial Manila practice, where problematic Cabinet Secretaries or other lesser officials are booted out of a particular office, but like playing musical chairs, is given another post. Everyone from President Ferdinand Marcos to Tita Cory and currently Pres. Arroyo has been doing this.
A case in point is what happened at the beginning of this month to Land Transportation Office (LTO) Chief Reynaldo Berroya who was quietly sacked from his post (perhaps because he failed to stop car smugglers) but instead of sending him out to pasture, he was reappointed as Chief of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). This fellow couldn’t even make things work in the LTO, which is a low-tech institution, what can we expect from him at the high-tech NTC?
It is high time for Congress to enact a law that prohibits public officials fired from their posts to be transferred to a similar post because this does not rehabilitate the person as we are only transferring the problem to another entity or another region. Let’s start fixing problems.
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A couple of weeks ago, we did a full column about the Amusement Taxes on the question posed by the Cebu City Council whether it should be abolished or not. Call it a coincidence that when my column appeared that Friday, The Philippine Star’s Entertainment Section also featured a similar report that Rep. William Irwin Tieng (I would like to believe that he is the son of Wilson Tieng a film distributor) of Buhay Partylist has authored House Bill no.3505 which seeks to reduce the Amusement Taxes from its maximum ceiling of 30% of gross receipts down to 10% of gross receipts.
While Amusement Taxes are enacted in Congress, the beneficiary for this tax is the local government unit. But if you ask me, we won’t be seeing the Cebu City Council or Congress passing laws that would abolish the Amusement taxes simply because there is still some money to extract from the last remaining theaters. I’m doubtful Rep. Tieng’s bill has the support of the mainstream political parties, especially the ruling majority. Although I submit that Rep. Tieng has one distinct advantage; during the deliberation of this bill, he can ask the Film Industry who are supporting his bill to bring in all the movie stars into the halls of Congress so they could turn on the charm. Perhaps then his bill might just get enacted in the House.
I got a comment about that article when it came out. I’m reprinting this email in full:
“For months, I was hoping that City Hall would bravely kill the ever-counterproductive Amusement Tax. Although it did not happen, a tax cut for concerts and sports events is an acceptable band-aid solution because (we) failed terribly (in) attracting big events. What I am disappointed over is that local movie theaters and the film industry never got the help it badly needed. Abolishing or cutting amusement taxes on movies would have made filmmaking a more viable business here in Cebu, and it would have prevented movie houses from implementing ticket price increases for the near future.
Local officials really need to look closely at how film producers and theater houses do their business and calculations. At 30%, the amusement tax is one of the leading killers of the local movie industry. Movie producers deserve to earn back 50% on their gross ticket sales while theater owners deserve increased profits without the need to raise prices on us consumers. I urge City Hall, and other concerned people reading this, to consider this argument. Cebu can’t be the next Hollywood as long as piracy and exorbitant amusement taxes are around. - Ritchie D. Nolasco Banilad, Cebu City.”
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Allow me to greet by uncle Atty. Eddy Rosello who is celebrating his 18th birthday today as Feb.29 only comes once every four years. He should be 72 by now. Many happy returns of the day and May God always bless and shower you and your family with his love and above all, good health!
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Email: vsbobita@mozcom.com