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- Senator Imee Marcos suggested that ABS-CBN sell their news archive to FDCP.
- Marcos also voiced out the importance of news archives as other Filipinos are losing respect of the country’s history.
Senator Imee Marcos recently asked media giant ABS-CBN if they are interested in selling their news footage archive. As Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) Chair Liza Dino stated that documentaries have been more profitable in streaming sites like Netflix, the Senator urged the organization to start archiving news footage to help Filipino filmmakers with their creation in the future.
“Kung documentary ang habol natin, importante na mag simula na tayo mag-archive,” Marcos stated.
“Nag-effort ako mag-archive kaya lang nawala na. Importante talaga archive sa ngayon ang tanging may archive lamang ay ang FPJ productions. ‘Yung iba talagang wala tayong respeto sa ating kasaysayan kaya kailangan talaga magkaroon tayo ng news and film archive.”
Marcos then said that maybe in the future, the government can allot a budget to the archiving of news.
“So maybe at some point, at some future that we have more money, and there is less COVID, e talagang kinakailangan natin na magkaroon ng news, documentary, and film archives.”
She then mentioned ABS-CBN, as it is one of the biggest media networks in the country, and asked if the company is willing to sell their news archive.
“Ibebenta ba ng ABS ‘yung kanilang archive? Nandun ‘yung karamihan. Magaganda ‘yung news footage nila. It’s very, very valuable.”
On the other hand, Dino said that the FDCP already had a list of films that they plan to store properly.
“Nasa budget po namin na hinihingi yung kahit man lang yung first phase ng ating Philippine Film Heritage building. This would seal and would really create a permanent house for the collections that we currently have.”
She added that that the organization had meetings with the Cultural Center of the Philippines, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, and other organizations in hopes of acquiring more Filipino films to store.
Marcos then suggested that FDCP cooperate with the Asian Film Archive and PATHE in France for their project.
