Wednesday, July 02, 2008 Speak out: Welfare of local entertainers By Ritchie D. Nolasco Banilad, Cebu City
FOR many years, entertainers in Cebu have struggled not only to develop talents but also to survive.
Even if Cebu has boomed, entertainers continue to struggle with low pay, lack of labor protection and unfair bargaining agreements with employers.
As if these were not bad enough, Cebuano entertainment continues to bear a lot of negativity,. .
Whenever I hear stories of Cebuano singing contestant manipulated by contest organizers in Metro Manila, my heart bleeds.
When I saw local dancers and technical officials lose their jobs when a TV network axed their show in favor of a poorly conceived show, my heart bled.
When I heard that Cebuano dancers cannot join Manila bands for lack of Tagalog reading skills, my heart cried.
Now is therefore the time Cebu should move to strengthen local entertainment and those involved in it.
We don't need Manilans to help us build our entertainment industry when we can do it better on our own.
If our local tycoons can band together, we can set up the first 100 percent Cebuano TV network that can rival the likes of GMA and ABS-CBN.
We can also justify that local entertainers deserve:
--Better rights ( laws against illegal dismissal should be strengthened);
--Better collective bargaining agreements or CBAs;
--Better pay (at least P1,200 a day).
Even if a dancer only spends an entire day practicing moves until the big show comes, he or she deserves to be paid as much as any office worker earns.
A P300 for a day's work is not enough, even though the cost of living here is much lower than in Luzon's cities.
I strongly appeal to our local government leaders to promote the rights and welfare of Cebuano entertainers, even at the amateur level.
Without them, our Sinulog grand parade would not be so lively.
Cebu itself has world-class entertainers, it's time we all take them seriously.
