Whether its powerhouse bands like Urbandub and Franco, born in the Queen City of the South, to acts like Missing Filemon and Kurt Fick, who weave Bisaya lyrics into their sound, Cebu has left an undeniable mark on the Philippine music industry.
Aiming to preserve and uplift Bisaya music among Cebu locals, Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera announced on March 5 his plan to propose the Bisaya Music Preservation and Promotion Ordinance. “Cebu City seeks to establish a unique identity as a creative hub in the Philippines by promoting Bisaya songs, which embody the linguistic, artistic, and cultural heritage of the region,” reads the ordinance’s current version.
The proposed ordinance mandates that at least 30 percent of background music played in public establishments — malls, restaurants, hotels, and markets, among others — must be Bisaya songs. This will ensure “meaningful representation” and create a “unique cultural experience” that attracts visitors and tourists to Cebu’s local businesses. To incentivize compliance, Garganera has proposed benefits like reduced local business tax rates and recognition awards. The ordinance also calls for collaboration with local music organizations and artists, along with the establishment of an annual Bisaya Music Festival. The estimated cost of implementing these changes is no less than P5 million.
Although Garganera’s proposed ordinance appears to be driven by good intentions, members of Cebu’s music community are less than convinced that the ordinance will effectively address any of the challenges they face. “[The ordinance] is an ineffective intervention to promote Bisaya music to audiences,” music journalist and co-founder of independent music publication Coast2Coast Kara Angan tells Rolling Stone Philippines.
“If the problem is raising awareness of Bisaya music to a greater audience, then you need to create ways for them to actively discover, engage, and appreciate the music,” says Angan. “These can come in the form of attending live gigs or shows, promoting artists online and in person, and the like. Listening to background music is a passive activity.”
Other figures in Cebu’s music scene share Angan’s concerns, while still recognizing the ordinance’s potential benefits. “I was glad at least that music had become a topic of concern for the city council,” Dexter Sy, co-founder of independent label Melt Records, tells Rolling Stone Philippines. While Sy acknowledged the ordinance’s potential to create a distinct “sonic branding” for Cebu, he also pointed out that it places local musicians on the “periphery.” “As many have voiced out, playing songs in the background of establishments does very little to benefit the musicians behind those songs,” says Sy.
As to the rest of Garganera’s proposed changes, such as the Bisaya Music Festival, Angan points out that such events already exist, such as the Vispop Music Festival and September Fever Music Festival. “Cebu has a healthy ecosystem of independent record labels, artists, media outlets, promoters, and event organizers that regularly organize initiatives that meaningfully connect Bisaya music with Cebuano audiences,” says Angan.
Mismatched Priorities
On March 22, members of Cebu’s music community revealed they had drafted a position paper directly responding to the ordinance, outlining their proposed revisions. Among the paper’s co-creators were members of Coast2Coast, independent label Filla Killa, September Fever Festival organizers, with input from representatives of Melt Records, event organizers John Bottles Events and Rverb Cebu, and local publications Pawn Records, and Lokal Sound Daily.
The paper raises concerns surrounding Garganera’s ordinance. “The Bisaya music industry has outgrown purely awareness campaigns,” the group wrote. In addition to pointing out that Cebu already has a thriving Bisaya music scene, the paper emphasizes the fact that certain elements of the ordinance duplicate existing initiatives and lack proper representation from active industry members. “Many of Cebu’s music labels, promoters, and creatives were not consulted in the policy’s formulation,” reads the paper.
The position paper argues that the local government should allocate the proposed P5 million to address structural issues, such as developing public venues for artistic performances, improving access to funding, establishing a government-backed office for Bisaya artists, and creating a more inclusive consultative body.
“To be clear: Requiring businesses to play Bisaya language songs as background music, in a vacuum, doesn’t do any harm,” says Angan. “However, [Garganera’s] solution — especially when P5 million of taxpayer money is on the table — is a mismatch with long-term problems regarding sustainability and infrastructure development in the city.”
What’s Next?
In response to the position paper’s co-creators, Garganera maintained that his ordinance is not redundant with existing initiatives and that it is still “a polarizing effort from the artists and stakeholders to convince the government to do its part.” On March 26, at a public hearing in Cebu, the councilor spoke in-depth about the ordinance with members of Cebu’s music community.
“The public hearing itself was relatively uneventful,” says Sy, who was in attendance. “One of the key matters under debate was enforcement of the ordinance. Garganera insists on incentive as opposed to penalties… The use of the word ‘mandatory’ in the ordinance, however, seems to paint a different picture.” Sy does note that some members of the local music scene were able to voice their support for the ordinance while still educating Garganera’s team on what issues within Cebu’s music industry should be prioritized.
While the second and third hearings are still scheduled before the ordinance is implemented, Angan hopes that the concerns of local musicians will be fully considered before any final decisions are made.
“If the government is to invest in the local music industry in order to turn the city into a creative hub, then we can’t settle for just ‘first steps’ or ‘pwede na ni,’” says Angan.
