OGIE Alcasid bats for equity. Photo byCarmela Honrado/CONTRIBUTOR
“While it is true that I campaigned for him, I am very much aware that he is not perfect,” singer-songwriter Ogie Alcasid said when asked about criticisms hurled at President Aquino following the Mamasapano tragedy.
Alcasid, who is chair of the Organisasyon ng Pilipinong Mang-aawit (OPM), was among the show biz celebrities who supported Aquino’s candidacy in 2010.
“The president is flawed, just like all of us, and his leadership style is almost unorthodox. But I still believe in his presidency; I am not withdrawing my support. He is an honest leader,” Alcasid said during the press conference for “MuSIKATin,” an OPM concert happening tomorrow, Feb. 20 at the Philippine Arena in Santa Maria, Bulacan.
Asked whether he thought the President should resign, Alcasid said: “That is not necessary. We don’t have the luxury of time. The best we can do at this point is to help him.”
Alcasid added: “This is our country, too. It’s easy to criticize, as we can see in social media, but what we should all be asking ourselves is what we can do to help.”
Pope Francis’ recent visit was timely, he said, because “it prepared us spiritually.”
During the press conference, Alcasid called attention to the OPM (Original Pilipino Music) bill, drafted by Ifugao Representative Teddy Baguilat and scheduled for a hearing in Congress on March 3. “We need to make noise,” he said. “We are pushing for two important things—equity and the airing of four OPM songs on radio per hour.”
Alcasid noted that the “equity program” is practiced in most countries, including Australia, England, United States, Japan and Korea. “Every time I have a show abroad, my promoter pays equity, in assumption that a local artist is being displaced.”
He said the equity fee would not go directly to OPM, but to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA). “The NCCA will then figure out what projects deserve to be funded by the equity fees.”
As for Executive Order No. 255, which requires all radio stations to play four OPM songs in a row per hour, Alcasid said, “Congress should figure out if four songs per hour is just about right [instead of] just two or maybe eight.”