High profile cases of COVID-19 from around the globe have made waves and shown the massive and arbitrary impact of the coronavirus pandemic. From Hollywood actors to NBA players and British royalty, the high-profile cases of the virus have further emphasized the gravity of the present situation. Throughout the pandemic, the Philippine film industry has received its share of such high-profile cases. The first occurred on March 17, when actor Christopher de Leon confirmed his positive COVID-19 test result via Instagram post. He has thankfully been discharged since this week and continues recovery; however, this confirmation has been followed by cases in the form of actress Iza Calzado (who revealed her hospitalization due to pneumonia and later received a positive COVID-19 test result), Sylvia Sanchez and husband Art Atayde, and actor Menggie Cobarrubias, who tragically passed away due to pneumonia on March 26 and was posthumously revealed to have tested positive for the virus.

Beyond these high profile cases are the over 3000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 currently in the Philippines. Increasing each day and with more cases likely to be discovered with the availability of further testing, the pandemic has affected the general working population (a notable film worker among them, Joseph Delos Reyes, a director of photography and filmmaker). In response, the Philippine government has taken drastic measures to address the pandemic, placing the entire region of Luzon under an enhanced quarantine. While such action is necessary to decrease the cases of virus infections and ‘flatten the curve,’ the quarantine has also placed heavy economic stress on the country’s working population. In terms of the Film industry, the quarantine has led to suspended work and production shoots, leading to the loss of employment of swathes of audio-visual industry workers who depend on freelance work to subsist.

Iza Calzado at Sine Sandaan

Amid this situation, we have seen the many segments of the local film industry respond, each seeking to do their part in effecting positive change and aiding in the fight against the pandemic and its struggles. Following the announcement of the quarantine, various production companies and filmmakers released films online for free streaming, with the aim of encouraging people to stay home and follow the guidelines for social distancing. 

On March 15, TBA Studios released nine full-length feature films for free on their youtube channel. The following day, Bar Boys director Kip Oebanda and its producers released the film on YouTube. Most recently, Regal Films released several classics for free screening in the production company’s official Youtube channel.

Meanwhile, a collective of various independent filmmakers formed ‘Lockdown Cinema Club,’ curating a collection of independent films, shorts, and features, to encourage a fundraiser for the freelance workers of the local film industry. Seeing immediate success from this project, the group collaborated with the Directors’ Guild of the Philippines Inc. (DGPI), the Lupon ng Pilipinong Sinematograpo, and the Ricky Lee Film Scriptwriting Workshop to expand their projects and include free screenplays and an online writing workshop. Since its founding on March 20, the group has raised over 2 million pesos to directly benefit over 1 thousand film workers.

Lockdown Cinema Club

Alongside these efforts, the Philippines’ lead agency for the promotion and support of Philippine cinema and the local film industry, the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) developed its Disaster/Emergency Assistance and Relief (DEAR) Program to provide financial support to freelance audio-visual workers and entertainment press affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing quarantine. By reallocating its event budgets, the FDCP set aside twenty million pesos to fund its aid benefitting the film industry’s most vulnerable workers.

FDCP Chairperson and CEO Liza Diño announced the initial launch of the DEAR Program on March 23, seeking to provide financial assistance to the film industry’s freelancers. Speaking via Facebook live Monday night, Chair Diño first recognized the urgency for action during the enhanced quarantine situation:

“For every shoot na natitigil, for every film na hindi naipapalabas, for every film na namimiss ng audience na panoorin sa sinehan, madami sa industry natin ang nadadamay, at nawawalan ng trabaho at pangkabuhayan,” she said. Due to this situation, the work of the FDCP during the quarantine has been first and foremost spent “looking for ways on how we can alleviate the situation—paano matutulungan ng FDCP ang industriya sa gitna ng pinagdadaanan natin ngayon—pano makapagbibigay ng kaunting ayuda sa 70% na manggagawa natin who belong to the freelance sector na per-day at per-project basis ang trabaho.”

The FDCP-released advisory outlined guidelines for the DEAR ACTION! program. Under DEAR, FDCP will provide financial support to ‘disaster-affected Freelance audio-visual workers’ namely., freelance workers who have suddenly become unemployed or lost working hours due to the impact of the COVID-19 Enhanced Community Quarantine and the subsequent State of National Calamity.

FDCP Chairperson and CEO Liza Diño with Film Philippines Executive Director David Fabros and FDCP Staff

Such affected workers will receive a one-time flat-rate cash assistance of 8,000 pesos through DEAR. The program will roll out via FDCP’s National Registry program which was founded to organize a veritable database of all active film and television workers, audio-visual companies, audio-visual organizations, and film festivals all over the country. By utilizing the National Registry, FDCP will be able to verify and register freelance audio-visual workers and provide them with disaster-triggered funding, under a “state of calamity.” 

Within a week of its launch and recognizing the importance of the press to the film industry, the DEAR program expanded to include freelance entertainment press under the DEAR PRESS! Initiative. Under DEAR PRESS! FDCP will be providing financial assistance to freelance entertainment press members who lost work or became unemployed due to COVID-19. 

“Napaka-crucial ng role na ginagampanan ng entertainment press para buhayin at bigyang kulay ang ating showbiz industry. Sila ang tagapaghatid ng mga nangyayari sa loob at labas ng showbiz para sa ating mga audience. Unfortunately, they too, belong to the freelance sector and cannot be afforded unemployment benefits. So in line with DOLE’s CAMP Program which provides unemployment assistance for employees, FDCP has created DEAR ACTION! and DEAR PRESS! to support the freelancers who are not covered by the CAMP Program,” FDCP Chair Diño said.

On April 1st, FDCP Chair Diño announced that FDCP had aligned with Lockdown Cinema Club, which expanded the film worker database to include over 900 possible beneficiaries for the program, in addition to more than a thousand other applications to claim for finandcial assistance.

“This alignment exemplifies the necessary course of action in these difficult times,” FDCP Chair Diño said, “In this time of crisis, it is our responsibility to come together as one industry and face the challenges brought by COVID-19 together. Although the pandemic presents many difficulties, it also provides ample opportunity for our country’s public and private sectors to ally and show unity in this fight. With FDCP’s DEAR program we hope to provide support to the folks who keep our industry alive and strong through their works.”

For more info on FDCP’s DEAR Program visit: www.fdcp.ph/dear-program