The House of Representative started hearing Monday, January 11, 2016 about the issue on the alleged conflict of interest raised against Dominic Du, a member of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) Executive Committee, in connection with his company and the committee’s decision to disqualify “Honor Thy Father” from the festival’s 2015 Best Picture category.
It was Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez, also a member of the cast of the disqualified film who revealed the possible conflict of interest of Du since he is a client of Atty. Josabeth Alonso, who happens to be the producer of the MMFF film entries “Walang Forever” and “Buy Now, Die Later.” As we all know, “Walang Forever” won as the Best Picture Award, and the entry “Buy Now, Die Later” got the second place.
Du said that Alonso is also the lawyer for most members of the Motion Picture Anti-Piracy Council, of which he is the president.
During the committee hearing, Fernandez asked Du about his business. As reported on Rappler.com, Du , an ExeCom member for eight years now, admitted owning the company Axinite Digicinema, Inc., a company engaged in the distribution of foreign films. He said his income depends on the gross earnings of the films he releases.
The lawmaker revealed that Axinite promoted two MMFF films on its Facebook page, namely, “Walang Forever” and “Buy Now, Die Later.”
The two movies were both produced by Quantum Films’ Joji Alonso, who happens to be the legal counsel of Du, according to Fernandez. Du, at first denied that Axinite Digicinema released “Walang Forever” and that he was connected with any of the producers in the MMFF. However, Fernandez showed a letter dated 2014, from the law firm of Alonso and Associates Inc. which referred to Du as their client and where Alonso is a managing partner of the law firm. Du did not comment on the issue.
“I’m not accusing, ang sinasabi ko lang, sa rules ninyo there should be no relation. Pero here, one of your members is associated with the producer of ‘Walang Forever’ and ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’,” Fernandez said.
The House hearing also showed that MMFF’s disqualification of the movie “Honor Thy Father” from the Best Picture category did not give the filmmakers due process.
Marichu Maceda, MMFF Executive Committee member, admitted that the special rules committee made a recommendation to disqualify the film on Dec. 14, 2015, but informed the executive committee about the disqualification only on Dec. 26, 2015 a day before the awards night. This deprived the filmmakers of the 10-day period to make an appeal. Fernandez asked the MMFF committee to investigate further “Honor thy Father’s” disqualification from the category for the film’s alleged non-disclosure of its participation in two other film festivals.
No representative from “My Bebe Love: #KiligPaMore”
Netizens are asking: Where are the representatives of “My Bebe Love: #KiligPaMore” during the Congress Probe? Unfortunately, none of them is present. In a tweet by GMA News reporter Tina Panganiban-Perez, “No representatives of My Bebe Love producers at the hearing.”
Netizens especially the AlDub fans are expecting a lot from them especially from its director Jose Javier Reyes who first cried foul over alleged incidents of ticket swapping . At least once and for all, clarify this issue since it was Jose Javier Reyes who confirmed the ticket-swapping making the fans paranoid on the issue. It’s not a joke and it’s a disappointing for these people to spread
On December 26, 2015, immediately after the alleged ‘ticket-swapping issue,’ MMFF 2015 committee already denied the “baseless” allegations thrown by “My Bebe Love” director on Twitter.
READ: MMFF releases official statement regarding the ‘Ticket Swapping’ issue
But as expected, the gullible Filipinos will always believe even if it’s really far from reality. That’s already a culture to some. Unfortunately.
