Reeling under heavy losses of a whopping Php16 billion incurred since the pandemic hit the country last year, the Filipino film industry is making a case for a tax holiday.
The industry that employs around 300,000 people, despite having earned P13 billion in 2019, has been badly due to Covid-19 according to senior industry people.
Atty. Josabeth Alonzo, corporate secretary of the Philippine Motion Picture Producers Association of the Philippines (PMPPAP) said, “The entertainment industry generated an income of P13 billion for the country in 2019. But since the pandemic in March 2020, we have registered losses of around P16 billion and counting.”
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Alonzo further informed the Senate committee on economic affairs that Metro Manila Film Festival held last year was a “failure” as it managed to bring only P25 million compared to P1 billion in 2019. The official said that the industry needed a tax holiday to survive the pandemic as it still has to pay amusement tax, “shooting fees,” and other taxes to the national government and local governments.
She added that the government should think of waiving the amusement tax and shooting fees “to give us a break.”
The association also lamented increased production cost that has gone up by over 30 percent to 40 percent as they needed to follow health protocols to keep their workers safe from Covid-19.
Roselle Monterverde, president of Regal Films also echoed the PMPPAP’s call, ruing that the local movie industry is now in a “survival mode.
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“Aside from amusement tax and “shooting fees,” Monteverde said, adding that they also pay a 12-percent value-added tax (Vat) imposed on revenues and production costs.
“So until we really can’t survive this and from the time that we can recover, we’re really asking for a tax holiday with the national…which is the VAT and also the withholding,” she said.
She did not elaborate but stressed that the film industry needs the government’s support so they could also continue to provide work for people in the industry. (AW)
