Marcos urges ‘respect for history’; pushes for creation of PH news, film archive

MANILA, Philippines — Lamenting a supposed lack of respect for Philippine history, Senator Imee Marcos on Tuesday pushed for the creation of news, documentary, and film archive.

During deliberations on the proposed 2021 budget of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), Marcos underscored the importance of archiving documentaries as well as films.

“Importante na mag-umpisa na tayo mag-archive. Importante talaga ang archive. Sa ngayon, ang tanging may archive lamang ay si FPJ (Fernando Poe Jr.). ‘Yung iba eh…talagang wala tayong respeto sa ating kasaysayan,” said Marcos, a daughter of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

(We need to start archiving. Archives are important. At present, we only have an archive for FPJ films. The others…we don’t really have respect for our history.)

“So, maybe at some point, at some future date when we have more money and there’s less COVID eh talagang kinakailangan magkaroon tayo ng news, documentary and film archive,” she added.

(So, maybe at some point, at some future date when we have more money and there’s less COVID, we really need to have news, documentary and film archive.)

The senator also suggested acquiring news materials from broadcast giant ABS-CBN.

“Ibebenta ba ng ABS-CBN ‘yung kanilang archive? Nandun ‘yung karamihan. Magaganda ‘yung mga news footage nila, it’s very very valuable for our future generations,” she said.

(Is ABS-CBN going to sell their archive? A lot is with them. Their news footage is really good, it’s very very valuable for our future generations.)

Senator Risa Hontiveros, who presided over the hearing, noted that the proposed budget of the FDCP includes funding for the acquisition of archive storage and the creation of a media asset management system.

FDCP chair Liza Diño said the national film agency has so far acquired around 26,000 film materials.

“We have 26,000 elements from film negatives to betacams and other materials and we do hope that we can sustain and maintain the quality of these materials na meron po tayo (that we already have),” Diño said.

The FDCP chair then asked lawmakers to approve funding for a Philippine Film Heritage building to serve as a “permanent house for the collections that we currently have.”

According to Diño, a 1,000-square meter property in Intramuros was given to FDCP for the said purpose.

“Ginawa lang po nilang parang warehouse. Binigay na po to sa atin,” she said.

(There’s this old warehouse. They gave it to us.)

“It’s a partnership between TIEZA (Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority), DOT (Department of Tourism), and the Intramuros Administration. They gave us a 1,000-square meter property sa loob ng (within) Intramuros so renovation na lang po (is just needed),” she added.

KGA