MANILA, Philippines?Sen. Ramon ?Bong? Revilla Jr. told the Inquirer that the Senate has passed a bill seeking to lower amusement tax on movie house tickets (currently priced from P120 to P160) nationwide ?from 30 to not more than 10 percent.?

Approved on June 4, Senate Bill 2325 is titled ?An Act Amending Section 140 (A) of Republic Act No. 7160, Otherwise Known as The Local Government Code of 1991.?

According to the Film Academy of the Philippines website, the bill was prepared jointly by the committees on Local Government and on Ways and Means, with Revilla and Senators Loren Legarda, Benigno Aquino III and Francis Escudero as proponents.

Revilla noted that a similar bill is now pending in the lower house. ?Once it?s passed in the House of Representatives, a [bicameral] Conference Committee will be formed. Then it will become a law.?

Ric Camaligan, president of the Motion Picture Anti-Film Piracy Council, related that some cities in the country already lowered amusement tax prior to the passing of Senate Bill 2325.

Camaligan recounted, ?Quezon City decreased it to zero, Manila to 15 percent, Baguio and San Fernando (Pampanga) to 20 percent.?