The Philippines could require hotels, resorts, tourist buses, and incoming international flights to play certain quotas of Filipino music – by law.
GMA news online reported that last Monday (November 29) the country’s House of Representatives unanimously voted 179-0 in the third and final reading of Bill 10305, which aims to promote Filipino culture and music.
The draft measures stipulate that flights arriving from abroad set aside at least 50 percent of the recorded music for Filipino songs when they land on Philippine soil. Tourist buses are also being built to create playlists with the same amount of local music.
On the flip side, hotels, resorts, and restaurants must play at least 25 percent Filipino creations during operating hours when it comes to injected music.
Even though the law has been approved, it has yet to be enforced as it should be submitted to the Senate, a conference committee, and the president of the country before it can be fully enacted.
Under the bill, Filipino music is defined as any musical composition – whether purely instrumental or with lyrics – that was originally composed, written, arranged, performed or played by Filipinos, GMA News reported.
Those who fail to do so risk a fine: airline directors or officers could be fined PHP 300,000 for any offense, while bus owners or operators may be charged PHP 50,000. The owners and operators of hotels, resorts and restaurants could be fined PHP 20,000 for any offense.
The bill would also mandate the country’s Ministry of Tourism to develop and implement rules and regulations 60 days after it was passed.
The bill was primarily drafted by Lito Atienza, a candidate for President of the Philippines in the 2022 election, who said he wanted to help effectively promote tourism in the country.
“We believe that every tourist would bring with them a very lively and clear impression of the art and culture of our country if the Ministry of Tourism included this in the tourism promotion program that would make him or her come back,” he said Manila Bulletin.
