MANILA, Philippines--ONSCREEN, HE PLAYS THE mythical hero in the movie series ?Ang Panday?; off-screen he is supporting legislation meant to help the movie industry and women. And gays.

Seriously.

The last cause seems out of character, but Sen. Ramon ?Bong? Revilla Jr., an action star known for macho or tough-guy roles, is backing up a bill that ?prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity? ? along with Rep. Rissa Hontiveros in the Lower House.

?We are all equal under the law. It doesn?t matter whether you?re gay or straight. We shouldn?t discriminate against anyone,? Revilla explained.

He was moved to file the ?anti-discrimination bill? in June 2007 when he heard that gay comedian Inday Garutay was refused entry in a local bar.

Although the bill has met resistance from conservative lawmakers, Revilla vowed to ?continue the fight for equal rights.?

Another crusade he feels strongly about is ?uplifting the local movie industry.?

No way
A hypothetical question was posed: What if the annual Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) were scrapped and Hollywood films were again allowed to be shown during Christmas time? (The highly lucrative holiday play dates, which spans two weeks, are reserved for Filipino films.)

?I won?t allow that to happen,? he asserted. ?How else can we revive the local movie industry if we give up the holiday play dates? The rest of the year, Hollywood movies beat local productions at the box office.?

If he had his way, he?d regulate the influx of foreign movies. ?We should set limits, like what happened in South Korea. We should show only one Hollywood movie a month.?

He is fully aware that such a measure could prove drastic and divisive.

?A lot of people would react negatively and I know it?s against the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade),? the actor-solon said.

In any case, he successfully reduced the amusement tax from 20 to 10 percent when a bill he authored was passed, signed and eventually lapsed into law this year.

There is talk that local government units are resisting its implementation because the amusement tax is a big source of revenue for them.

?It?s already been passed by Congress. They can?t do anything about that. They didn?t complain while the bill was being deliberated on. In any case, reducing amusement taxes will help revive the local movie industry,? Revilla said.

Following his involvement in the probe of the Hayden Kho-Katrina Halili sex video scandal, Revilla came up with the Anti-Voyeurism bill ?to protect women from predators.?

As producer-actor of ?Ang Panday,? an entry in this month?s MMFF, Revilla feels passionately about ?offering viewers entertainment that?s worth their time and hard-earned money.?

He noted: ?We spent over a year making ?Panday.? We took extra care in doing the special effects, and we had a Red camera ... the same one used in Hollywood movies like ?Jumper? and ?Gamer.??