BOOTS ANSON-ROA WEARING DIFFERENT HATS, GIVING BACK TO THE ARTS By Nina Somera, Agung, Official Newsletter of The NCCA Maria Elisa "Boots" Anson-Roa is just one of the many multi-talented and brilliant people around. More than a familiar face in the movies and on television, she remains to be a figure of authority and credibility especially behind the camera. Because of her impressive knowledge and experience in various fields, she has held key positions in several institutions and organizations such as UNESCO, Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation, Premiere Entertainment, Philippine Population Commission and Movie Workers Welfare Association. In celebration of Women's Month, Agung delves into the life and insights of a wife, mother, teacher, artist and most of all, a woman of character and substance. Agung (A): You've just been appointed as chairperson of Mowelfund. Boots Anson-Roa(BAR): Actually, appointed by the board of which I am also a member. Over the last six months, the executive director of long standing, Robbie Velasco who has been around from the very beginning of Mowelfund, has been well. He's been in coma. (A): How do you find the job so far? (BAR): I'll euphemize. I'd call it very challenging, very stimulating. We do have some enhancement to engage in. We'd like to intensify our outreach programs to our members, meaning we'll communicate with them more closely. What happens is, pag mayroon lang silang kailangan, that's the only time they communicate with us and we communicate back. We'd like to come up with a more regular system of interaction between the members and Mowelfund. We are putting up bulletin boards in the various istambayan of the members plus suggestion boxes in case they have inquiries or complaints or suggestions. We're also coming up with a newsletter that we can send out to the members and also for internal purposes. We're also expanding our welfare department. It used to be consisted of membership and claims office but we're expanding it into a whole division, a bigger section where we would also have a new outreach programs like livelihood programs so that over and above the health and medicine, hospitalization and death benefits, there would be livelihood opportunities para may fallback sila provided na they agree to train. This cannot be one of those instant ways to success. We're also intensifying our media and information campaigns. There is some perception, though we don't know how extensive this is, that is a political tool pf former President Erap. That's not true. This is a non-stock, non-profit foundation. While it is true that Erap founded it in 1974 and I think that really goes to his credit, this is the only welfare institution for small movie workers in the whole world, As far as I know. It had to take somebody like that with such vision and a really soft spot for little people in the industry to start something like that. Over the years, nagkaroon ng regular subsidy ang Mowelfund from the government through the 60% of the amusement taxes earned by the government from the Metro Manila Film Festival. Last August, we received information that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had decided to cut the subsidy from 60% to 10% and distribute the others to other film-related agencies like the Film Academy of the Philippines, Anti-Piracy, the Presidential Social Fund, and the NCCA. That meant a very drastic reduction in our funding, we could only last until March. We appealed to Pres. GMA, through certain intermediaries who helped us get our information materials across. Kaya yung 10% naming, iniakyat na to 35%. It is still almost just one half but we'll try to manage with that . That's why we're coming up with our own fund-raising schemes. (A): There is a perception that the output of the film industry is not as good and substantial as it was before as in the 70s and the early 80s. (BAR): Definitely. Those were he times when the output of the industry totaled about 220 movies per year. Over the last five to six years, bumaba to 150. Over the last two years , less than 100 na lang. Mabuti na lang the film festivals have been helping. Lately, some of the better movies have also made money. In the recent concluded Matro Manila Film Festival, the better movies were also the top-grossers. We're hoping that with film festivals like this and with producers being more conscious of quality infused into the work that there'll be better movies to balanc3 for example, the quicky boldies that have always been present. There are some bodies that are good movies, really technically superior, but which are bold in theme and implementation. Pero mas nakakalungkot 'yong mga movies na bold for boldness' sake because mayroon pa ring nakakasingit na ganoon. (A): Inadequate funding has been pinpointed as one of the major causes usually but rarely do we hear about the culture of a king of womanhood projected and reinforced time and again in the movies and on television. It's a culture wherein women are almost always being pictured either as virgins or seductresses. In other words, they're objects to be conquered. What can you say about that? (BAR): It is sad that that it's that way. On the other side of the cultural front, for example, maybe as influenced by the devotion to the Virgin Mary since we're predominantly a Catholic country and we're very matriarchal as a society, one would think even in the movies which are largely reflective of life that women would be put on a pedestal. Women still play a very strong role in the household, in the basic unit of society, the family. In society at large, this is probably because of western influence, that woman has become a sex object, an object of ridicule, also an object of empowerment but more often than not, parang she has become a subject from which men and the audience at large could derive pleasure, enjoyment, or even predispositions towards sadism or cruel humor. I would say that for a women who allow themselves to be such is large a matter of economics. There aren't very many actresses who can choose their roles. Some of them take whatever comes because they're supporting a big family, an extended family pa nga madalas. Sabi nga nila, in society as a whole, walng mang-aapi kung walang magpapaapi. Dito naman sa movies, walang ma-eexploit kung walang magpapa-exploit. Producers, being businessmen as well, put in a lot of money into a production. By nature of our film taxation, they have to earn at least three times of their investment before they can break-even. For every peso gross that the movies earns, ang napupunta lang na neto sa producer doon mga 35 centavos. 35% goes to the amusement taxes, 'yong other 30% goes to the other small taxes plus the payment to the theater owners through the MTRCB. So, if a film is graded A by the CEB and it goes to the MTRCB before screening and the latter classifies it R-18, the producer may appeal to the MTRCB na puwede bang gawin nating PG-13. The MTRCB may say you have to trim it down a little where these scenes are concerned. But if in the process, the scenes that were cut were the basis of the CEB for an A, babalik na naman yan sa CEB at baka yung A na iyon maging B na lang. So there is a symbolic relationship between MTRCB and the CEB although they both have different thrusts. The NCCA, as an artist group, I think would be more open, more broad in coverage kasi we were taught that art is amoral, neither bad nor good. Sabi nga ni Marilou Diaz-Abaya, 'you cannot legislate arts.' How can you manage artists? There was this very Substantive article that the former NCCA chairman Jaime Laya came up with about managing the arts which shows na puwede - disiplina ang kailngan and planning, organization and control. So many of the basic tenets of management can be applied to the arts. I think it's a myth that artists are temperamental and flamboyant. Maybe so but it does not mean that artists cannot be bound by discipline. Because art as a form should have discipline. (A): You're not the most-awarded, multi-talented and most experienced celebrities. What's behind an untainted reputation? (BAR): My husband and my children have helped a lot. They are very supportive in my endeavors. My husband has given me a lot of rooms for progress as a person and as a career woman. All the children have a soft spot and understanding and openness of mind and spirit for the arts. On my part, I've had to exert a lot of effort to bridge the gap between career and home. I've been blessed with the capability, the education, the training and the understanding of my family to manage myself well in relation to time. It has meant sacrificing a lot of physical time. I don't have a social life, really. If you see me attending functions, It's because I have a role to play like as guest speaker or resource person or I'll be cutting the ribbon. It's always in some capacity either as the NCCA's Cinema Committee head or Mowelfund's Executive Director. But it is very seldom that I watch movies, ironically. Kung hindi pa may Pelikula at Lipunan, hindi pa ako makakapanood. I seldom watch TV. It's ironic because these are my main sources of income. What I'd like to give premium to is family reunions and keeping Sunday sacred but even then I have a radio show on Sunday, 5-6 p.m. The radio show is a way of reaching out, a way of giving back to an industry which has been good to you. Then the teaching part. Why do I teach? Certainly not for the money. Minimal talaga ang kinikita sa pagtuturo compared to the hours you put in. I belabor my lesson plan, my visual aids and modules because I consider them important. Again, it's giving back to the industry that has been good to me. It's a way of investing time, effort, and even money kasi iyong nawawala sa aking opportunity to earn bigger because of the hours taken in by the teaching. (A): You got married immediately after you graduated. What motivated you to pursue your career? (BAR): As a matter of fact, I wasn't able to complete my thesis so I didn't march. The opportunities presented themselves. I'm one of the fortunate ones who never really had to look for a job here. Projects were presented to me. Ako 'yong pinilit, like my first movie. At that time, I was already married with two children. Sabi ko, sige first and last. Awa ng Diyos nakaka-more than a hundred na ngayon and this is considering an 11-year hiatus when we were in the States. It was only in the States when I experienced applying for a job after my tenure in Philippine embassy ended and politics had something to do with it. I was identified with the Marcos administration. For former diplomats, you can avail of opportunities to stay so we had work permits. Only after my stint at the embassy did I realized how it was to apply for work. It was an eye opener. It opens your eyes to the reality that you may be big in your country but when you get out to the world, you're a speck of dust. I finally landed a job in a bank, in a field that was completely unknown to me. When we came back here, I was busier than when we left. Movie offers poured in. TV shows poured in. It was supposed to be a landmark come back because not too many are able to come back after many years of being away and at my age (when we came back in 1993, I was 48), and there were many movie offers that came, of course mother roles nay an, major supporting roles. (A): How important is education to you? How far do you think can it bring someone in this industry? (BAR): I put a lot of premium in that although formal education that is not enhance by experience may not mean as much especially in the industry we live in. There are still a number who are graduates of the school of hard knocks, the university of life and they've done very well. But it's always good to be fully-armed, geared for battle because this whole thing can be a battle sometimes and it's always good to have a fall-back. Masuwerte nga lang ako that even without my diploma, I have been able to teach. (A): Among all your achievements, which one of the most important to you? (BAR): Siguro it's to have raised the kids we have raised because not one of them has really given us problems and when I look and see and learn about other children of personalities, I say to myself, my children are good. And then maybe more than the film awards and the acting awards, it's the service awards which [mean a lot.]