Some of the Philippine advertising industry’s most important and awarded music studios—Hit Productions, Sound Design, Loud Box, and Noisy Neighbors—have just been ordered to leave the building complex which they all share. These sound studios are among the 273 tenants of the Mile Long-Creekside complex along Don Chino Roces Avenue that have to find new business premises.
This after Sunvar Realty Development Corporation issued a statement on Wednesday, August 16, 2017, that it will “comply and vacate Mile Long,” which has been legally contested since 2008.
On Tuesday, August 15, 2017, Duterte regime appointee Solicitor General Jose Calida, accompanied by the sheriff of the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 141, served the notice to vacate issued by Judge Maryann Corpus-Manalac.
The government claims the property and alleges that the property was leased by the government to Sunvar on February 28, 1982, that the agreement expired on December 31, 2002, and that Sunvar continued to occupy the property despite the expiration of the lease and collect millions of rentals from tenants.
The 2.9-hectare property in contention was leased out by Sunvar to the operators of Mile Long Arcade, Makati Creekside Building, The Gallery Building, Sunvar Plaza, and Premier Cinema. Many Makati residents know it as the location of Makati Cinema Square as well as Little Tokyo.
Sunvar Realty Development Corporation is owned by the Rufino and Prieto families. The Prieto family also owned, until recently, the Inquirer Group of Companies, the flagship publication of which is the nation’s most widely read daily broadsheet, The Philippine Daily Inquirer, which has continuously reported on the ongoing nationwide campaign of extrajudicial killings. According to a 117-page report titled “License to Kill: Philippine Police Killings in Duterte’s ‘War on Drugs‘” by Human Rights Watch published March 2017, over 7,000 people have been killed by Philippine National Police officers and unidentified “vigilantes” since the inauguration of President Rodrigo Duterte on June 30, 2016, and his call for a “war on drugs.” A study by Amnesty International titled “If You are Poor, You are Killed: Extrajudicial Executions in the Philippines’ ‘War on Drugs’” published in January 2017 notes, “Statistics from the Philippine National Police indicate that police officers and unknown armed persons collectively carried out 7,025 drug-related killings between 1 July 2016 and 21 January 2017, roughly an average of 34 per day.” The Philippine Daily Inquirer also reported on the return to power of an axis of political dynasties, some of which have been convicted or charged of plunder, allied with the Duterte regime, as well as numerous instances of alleged incompetence and cronyism. On July 17, 2017, in an era of plummeting profits from print publications, the Prietos sold its majority stake in the Inquirer Group of Companies to San Miguel Corporation president, Chief Operating Officer, and majority stockholder Ramon S. Ang, also Duterte’s close friend and supporter.
At several public events, Duterte has lambasted the Philippine Daily Inquirer and has threatened to take back the Mile Long property from the Prietos for alleged tax arrears. On Wednesday, August 16, 2017, at the 9th founding anniversary of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) that has supported Duterte’s so-called war on drugs, the president claimed, “I’m selling that so I can build more houses for the soldiers.” Incidentally, Mile Long is so named in tribute to the US military barracks in Corregidor Island that withstood the Japanese onslaught in the Second World War. The Creekside building takes its name from the rather polluted canal that runs underneath the complex. The street is so named in tribute to the original of owner of The Manila Times, anti-Marcos dictatorship icon Don Chino Roces. (The current publisher of The Manila Times is a propagandist for the Arroyo political dynasty, now an ally of the Dutertes.) Further down the road of Don Chino Roces Avenue is the office of The Philippine Daily Inquirer.
On social media, employees and business owners of the creative industry’s most acclaimed music studios have been posting photos of themselves moving out equipment. Though the legal dispute had dragged on for almost a decade, establishments were given just three days to vacate the premises after the court had decided. This short span of time has created huge challenges for the sound studios with their huge number of audio equipment, musical instruments, and acoustic paneling.
In correspondence with adobo magazine, Vic Icases, president of Hit Productions, revealed, “We knew this situation might someday happen but we were taken aback with how quickly it was enforced and how little time we are being given to pack up 26 years worth of our lives. However we have had contingency plans and backup locations in place for this very event and I’d like to assure our clients that Hit Productions is conducting business as usual. We are targeting not to lose a single day of work or cancel a single booking during this crisis. I’m extremely proud of my team’s resilience and fortitude in the face of this challenging moment in our company history. All of us at Hit are grateful for the huge outpouring of support that is being shown to us by agencies, advertisers, producers and voice talents.”
Despite all contingencies, parting was nonetheless sweet sorrow. Guilbert Gilles George posted, “This is the last time we’ll be recording here. The Advertising Audio Alley at Mile Long has been an industry institution for decades now. A long row of audio production houses sitting cheek by jowl, where producers and talents alike could literally just run from one frantic session to another. Where we could literally bump into industry colleagues as we hastened to and fro, or loitered along the corridors just smoking and shooting the breeze. That age is now ending, and will officially end at 11:59 tomorrow. To all our friends and colleagues at Hit [Productions], LoudBox, Watusi, and my old and faithful regular Noisy Neighbors: we’ve had a great and storied run. It may be curtain call for our homes in Mile Long, but the music lives on, and will go on and on.”
Raul Blay, owner of SounDesign Inc., confided, “It feels like part of me died today. But oddly enough, I feel excited as to how the next chapter unfolds. To quote my favorite author, [gospel evangelist] John [12:24]: ‘Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.'”
Steve Vesagas, president of Slingshot Manila, added, “it’s sad that it had to end so abruptly as we are caught in the cross fire.
I have been doing sound production at The Gallery Building area for over 2 decades now. It’s become a home and a very comfortable work zone for me and my team already.
But this change was really imminent. As my client and good friend advised me: accept that the government will take over. So we just had to deal with it and move on. And keep things moving the way we do as producers. It’s chaotic right now but the dust needs to settle very soon to sustain the continuity of our projects, and uphold the interest of our partner clients and agencies.”
Edsel Tolentino, Creative Partner of Loudbox, expressed his dismay, yet remained optimistic for the future of the studio, saying, “regular offices can transfer their tables, chairs, computers and cabinets to a new space, hang their sign on the door and open for business. A music and audio production, however, is like Rome—it isn’t built in a day, more like six months. For instance, a sound isolation booth is a room within a room with a host of technical requirements to be proper and usable. Despite the impossible—we were given less than three days to vacate our premises—loudBox was able to set up in five satellite locations and it’s business as usual!
What’s heartening about the Sunvar debacle, in which loudBox and other tenants became collateral casualties, are our sympathetic friends and colleagues who called or dropped messages to offer help. A college buddy and owner of a top video and events company even offered his lorries to transport our equipment.
The stretch of low-rise buildings on Amorsolo St houses Manila’s top studios, including loudBox. For creatives, producers, composers, musicians, engineers and support staff, Friday the 18th marks the day the music died in Manila’s “Nashville”, to be hyperbolic about it. Then again, it’s appropriate as many pop music composers and musicians are gainfully employed on Amorsolo.
But the show must go on! Shaken as we are by this sudden development beyond our control, we, loudBox partners, remain optimistic and, frankly, are looking ahead with anticipation and excitement to our future studios. Yes, we’ve inked a long-term lease on Legaspi Street—YES! To our agency partners, watch out and HEAR about loudBox Studios’ brand spanking new digs soon! Our best is yet to come!”
Chona Bustamante, partner at Just Add Water Productions, Inc. (JAW), which is the first and only Philippine institution of advertising broadcast producers operating as a group on a professional level, voiced her concern not only for her company, but also for the other sound production houses being evicted. “Although we knew that this day will come, but to spring it on us like this and give us less than 3 days to vacate is unkind. All of us tenants are simply collateral damage to this case.
We consider ourselves one of the lucky ones in comparison to all our audio-production partners that are affected. It is a daunting task to move so much delicate equipment in such short notice. We feel deeply for them and to all the other displaced businesses in the area as well.
It’s business as usual for us JAW producers. We are all trying our best to make the transition seamless for all our clients’ projects as our audio-production partners are re-setting up their studios. We ask for everyone’s understanding and patience as they all make their transition to their new homes,” she said.
As the studios prepare for their big move out of Mile Long, their advertising agency partners have voiced their support and encouragement. Raul Castro, CEO of McCann Worldgroup Philippines, said in a message to adobo magazine, “just found out about it today and was shocked by the news. Immediately my thoughts went to our treasured partners in business. Do let me know please if and how we as an industry can help in any way. I can only imagine how terrible it is for our friends.”
Trixie Diyco, Publicis JimenezBasic ECD, shared, “I have creatives who are there tonight, messaging me what’s happening. Everyone’s sad. Even the younger kids feel it. I am also told that anything still there by 10am tomorrow will be chained. But am also told each of the sound houses already have backup plans, temporary venues. It’s surely going to cause delays, but our industry is used to quick turnarounds and making the impossible happen, so i am hopeful, confident even, our friends will bounce back in no time. We will help manage as much as we can, of course.”
adobo magazine visited the ghost town which used to be the Mile Long-Creekside Complex and the once-home of some of the industry’s most prominent sound production houses. Below are snapshots of the closed down offices.
