The Pinoy Music Mandate Bill Really Shows A Sore Loser Mindset That's Afraid Of Competition

 
Is it me or is the Philippines really fond of band-aid solutions? What I didn't realize is how Vice President aspirant, Representative Lito Atienza, really has to be one of the writers of a very stupid bill. I just read of a bill that requires planes to play Pinoy music upon landing. This really shows just how shortsighted Filipin lawmakers can be. I would also present some parts of this proposal that makes it rather STUPID even for a nobody blogger like myself.

The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a draft measure that would mandate the playing of Filipino songs in hotels, resorts, restaurants, tourist buses, and all inbound international flights.

Voting 179-0-0, the chamber approved on Monday House Bill No. 10305, which requires international flights, upon landing in the Philippines, to devote at least 50 percent of its piped-in music to Filipino songs.

Under the bill, 50 percent of the playlist of tourists buses must be local songs while the repertoire of hotels, resorts, and restaurants must be 25-percent Filipino music.

The proponents said they wanted to showcase native culture through Philippine music, which the bill defined as “any musical composition, whether purely instrumental or with lyrics, which has been originally composed, written, arranged, performed or played by Filipinos.”

Hefty fines

Songs that were originally composed and written by Filipinos, regardless of whether the lyrics are in Filipino or English or in any regional language or dialect, will be considered Philippine music.

The measure imposes fines on violators: Airline companies failing to play the required music as their aircraft land in the country face a P300,000 fine, while bus operators will pay P50,000 for every offense.

The fine for hotels, restaurants, and resorts is P20,000 for every offense.

My own personal thoughts on why this bill is STUPID for almost every part of it

One can always say that buying local is part of economics. I agree that buying local is part of it. However, the idea that imported goods don't get any Filipino businessman is rich is absurd. If a Filipino businessman sells both local and imported products - don't tell me that he only benefited from selling the local but not the imported product from his store? I mean, can we name even ONE single business in the Philippines that isn't using imported products? NONE!

I don't think I can comment much on the buses. However, regarding restaurants, this is totally absurd because different restaurants may serve DIFFERENT CUISINES and portray a DIFFERENT CULTURE. Here are some examples where it'd be absurd:

• An Arabic halal restaurant would be playing Arabic music because it's an Arabian restaurant. It would be more appropriate to play songs by Egyptian pop singer Hisham Abas such as "Nari Narien" than they would be obligated to play the dance music of Muslim Mindanao. 
• An Indian restaurant would have an authentic Indian feel when it plays INDIAN music. It would be more obliged to play music by Bollywood artists than by Filipino artists for that authentic feel.
• A Chinese restaurant would have its feel with Chinese music. Obviously, playing Filipino music in a Chinese restaurant is just absurd. You want to give the feeling of China or Taiwan in those restaurants, right? So, should they be forced to play Kim Chiu's ATROCIOUS Mandarin singing when they can play better Chinese music?
• Meanwhile, Filipino restaurants will naturally PLAY FILIPINO MUSIC because of its theme. Filipino restaurants will be serving Filipino food and play Filipino music to complement the atmosphere. 

If the aim is to promote Filipino music - this is where absurdity sits in especially with the HEFTY FINES. Traffic violations are committed more often than not in the Philippines. Paying a fine from PHP 50,000 up to PHP 300,000 for an otherwise NON-LIFE THREATENING OFFENSE is stupid. Don't tell me that playing Filipino music will guarantee the safety of the tourists? Bus operators and airline operators should pay hefty fines if what they did threatened the SAFETY of their passengers? Will playing Filipino music guarantee a safe landing? Will playing Filipino music guarantee that the bus won't make a wrong turn? This is a real lack of common sense there! 

If the proponents of the bill want to promote Filipino music - there are more creative ways to promote them than the use of hefty fines. It requires uttermost COOPERATION with the tourist spots. Buwan Ng Wika can be a massive business opportunity. It would be time to build awareness and have certain local businessmen cooperate (not by force) with the mandate. An example is that restaurants that would cooperate may be given a tax cut instead of filing hefty fines for not playing Filipino songs. Cultural heritage event participants are the ones that should be required to play Filipino music. Then again a Filipino food restaurant is bound to play Filipino music. A Filipino tourist bus is bound to play Filipino music. Instead, they decided to go with a loser's way out by trying to force Filipinos to support lousy local media. This is why I even wonder if Sarah Jane Elgago of Kayabangang Partylist, Antonio Tinio of Alliance of Complaining Teachers, Carlos "Heneral Lunatic" Zarate of Bayad Muna, and Arlene Brosas of Gagabriela are probably co-authors of this bill too.

Again, I'm not saying all Filipino music is bad. I still enjoy some Filipino music. However, this bill is just absurd to many levels. It just shows just how sore loser mentality is prevalent in the Philippines. I mean, what's next, revive the bill that the late Noynoy Aquino chose not to sign last 2013? If so, this might even fuel piracy even more as a result.