Now, this would make a good movie.
“The Film Academy of the Philippines (FAP) yesterday sued the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) for allegedly withholding some P82 million worth of tax proceeds from the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) held in 2002 to 2008,” reports Janvic Mateo in The Philippine Star.
The report said that “in a 13-page petition, FAP director general and actor Leo Martinez—through lawyer Antonio Inton—asked the Quezon City Regional Trial Court to order the MMDA to release the alleged withheld funds covered by the report of the Commission on Audit (COA) in 2009.”
COA had done a special audit on the MMFF funds from 2002 to 2008. They found out that the MMFF executive committee, which was headed by then MMDA chairman Bayani Fernando, had released to identified beneficiaries PHP130.4 million of the total proceeds of PHP216.6 million. That left a balance of P82.8 million in amusement tax proceeds from the said years.
In the FAP petition, it was pointed out: “The MMFF Fund, as it has been originally conceived and practiced, is for the benefit of the movie workers.”
The respondent named in the petition is Francis Tolentino in his capacity as chairman of both the MMDA and the MMFF executive committee. According to the report Tolentino said in a text message that “the MMFF executive committee will answer all old rehash issues after the most successful staging of the (festival).”
