Overseas Performing Artists (OPA)

OFW artists press for recognition

RAISED hands and clenched fists, which express defiance and protest.

That sums up a recent gathering of major overseas entertainment agencies that train and send Filipino talents to Japan and other East Asian countries. Said agencies have formally linked up to form the Confederated Association of Licensed Entertainment Agencies (Calea). The group convened recently to voice their complaints against the government agency called Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda), which accredits the entertainers.

In a press briefing, Christie Gatchalian-Buan, chair of Calea, said the group is calling for a more transparent way of processing OPAs (Overseas performing artists) and do way with Tesda employees who sell permits or artist record books (ARBs) to illegitimate talent scouts and managers.

She cited an assessment center in Davao City where more than 400 applicants passed. Calea found this figure statistically impossible as it claimed roughly 90 percent of the talent centers are within Metro Manila. “Did the applicants take a ship from Manila to Davao?” quipped Edwina Lema Beech, former chair of the Philippine Entertainment Exporters and Promotions Association (Peepa).

“It’s so exhausting because as an industry, we’re supposed to be busy with other social projects. Instead, we have to beg the government to clean up its accreditation system,” said Gatchalian-Buan, who is training director of her family’s 30-year-old company Gatchalian Promotions.

She added it such a shame since Filipino entertainers are known to be talented and hardworking. Many Filipino bands are now performing in Shanghai, she noted. She also cited figures indicated that US dollar remittances from OPAs were $2 billion, which the total annual remittances of OFWs amount to $6 to $8 billion.

“Despite this contribution it’s only the negative issues that the public remembers,” she continued. “It’s when someone was jailed or abused. The ‘japayuki’ stigma could also be the reason why we’re having a hard time dealing with the government. Basically we want to put emphasis on the good side of the business.

She also explained that most of the entertainers who get victimized obtained their ARBs illegally. “Once they’re abroad, they cannot really perform because they do not have the correct training and attitude. It comes to a point when they get fired so they run away or even engage in prostitution just to be able to stay in that country.”

(First published in The Manila Times on March 29, 2004)