SOCIAL FUND DONATION HELPED FAP STAY ALIVE

A P1.5 million tranche donation from the social fund of the office of the President virtually helped the Film Academy of the Philippine stay afloat in the face of budgetary difficulties brought about by the substantial slash in its share from the Metro Manila Film Festival earnings.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo approved and earmarked P3 million through a deed of donation as early as the first half of this year.

Subsequently, the office of the President issued on May 17, 2006 the first tranche in the amount of P1.5 million, representing half of the agreed donation. The amount was intended to start the implementation of the FAP’s major projects.

In effect, this amount, together with the P1.35 million share the academy received as its share of the Metro Manila filmfest earnings, kept the academy going for the last 11 months.

Some other workshops and seminars this year were funded by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.

The FAP was getting its 30% share of the filmfest earnings for the past several years. This was drastically cut to 10% this year, setting in motion the budgetary constraints that hobbled the academy.

The timely endowment of the first P1.5 million tranche enabled the FAP to hold its 24th annual Luna Awards which was hailed by critics as a very relevant awards program that even focused on the eight heritage sites in the country as chosen by UNESCO.

But there were other FAP projects that benefited from the social fund donation. These included the Academy’s Scriptwriting-Storyline contest,
the Pride Campaign, and the Pelikulang Pampanitikan project which intends to transfer into digital films the masterpieces of Philippine literature which are included in our elementary, high school and college curricula. Another beneficiary is the FAP website project which underwent upgrading this year.

FAP Director General Leo G. Martinez emphasized that the last tranche of the fund donation from the office of the President will provide the financial requirements for the ongoing Pride campaign and Pelikulang Pampanitikan projects.

He added that if the FAP share from the Metro Manila filmfest remained at 10%, the academy will have to request fund donation from the office of the President to shore up its finances next year.

He said that the Luna Awards will have its silver anniversary next year. This early, the academy must find ways and means to generate funds to make the 25th year anniversary of the Luna Awards meaningful, Martinez stressed.

He assured, however, that with the last P1.5 million tranche from the social fund the academy is expecting to receive this month, it will not be a problem to come up with outstanding results in our ongoing flagship projects.