{"id":969687,"date":"2018-02-19T05:17:12","date_gmt":"2018-02-18T21:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/?p=969687"},"modified":"2018-02-19T00:10:49","modified_gmt":"2018-02-18T16:10:49","slug":"artists-find-strength-in-numbers-to-solve-health-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinfo.inquirer.net\/969687\/artists-find-strength-in-numbers-to-solve-health-woes","title":{"rendered":"Artists find strength in numbers to solve health woes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Founders and organizers of the Artists Welfare Project Inc. pose for a group picture. They seek to give freelance artists and media workers health insurance protection. \u2014CONTRIBUTED PHOTO<\/p><\/div>\n

LOS BA\u00d1OS, Laguna \u2014 In December 2011, musician Lirio Salvador was crossing the street to get to an arts venue in Cavite province when a speeding motorcycle hit him. He is still undergoing brain therapy seven years after the accident.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were no visible injuries, [but] the damage was in the brain. He was at the ICU (intensive care unit) for 25 days and in the [hospital] room for three months,\u201d recalled Salvador\u2019s wife, Mary Ann, in a documentary produced by the Artists Welfare Project Inc. (Awpi).<\/p>\n

The driver of the motorcycle had escaped, leaving the victim\u2019s family and artist-friends to raise P1 million to cover hospital expenses. National Artist BenCab or Benedicto Cabrera donated an artwork.<\/p>\n

Pushing the envelope<\/strong><\/p>\n

The case of Salvador, 50, who is known for his metal sculptures that function as musical instruments, was among the many Filipino artists \u201cpushing the envelope most of their lives,\u201d said Awpi executive director, Jennifer Lee Bonto. In most cases, artists resort to passing the hat when someone falls ill.<\/p>\n

Bonto recalled Nonoy Froilan, considered the country\u2019s premier male ballet dancer, coming home one night to a dark house without electricity because he was not able to pay the bill.<\/p>\n

In 2011, the country\u2019s biggest ballet companies staged a fund raising performance for Froilan\u2019s wife and Ballet Philippines choreographer, Edna Vida, who was diagnosed with cancer. Several benefit gigs were also mounted for rock icon, Jun Lopito, when he fell ill and needed financial help.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t have an insurance. I don\u2019t have anything. All I\u2019ve got are friends, band mates, club owners. Otherwise, nothing,\u201d Lopito said in the documentary.<\/p>\n

Proactive<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe worked so hard. We gave our life to dance. But there was never any big financial compensation, which is still true until now. I don\u2019t know if I\u2019m expecting too much. I don\u2019t know if we even deserve it,\u201d Edna Vida said.<\/p>\n

In the last decade, Awpi has been working with freelance artists on issues concerning health, housing and even education.
\n\u201cWe can\u2019t just raise funds every time an artist gets sick. You raise P1 million, but how far does that really go?\u201d Bonto said.<\/p>\n

In 2017, Awpi gathered the first 150 artists to sign up as a group for a health care plan under a private insurance company. This year, it will again enjoin artists to fill up another 170 slots for the second batch.<\/p>\n

Under the plan, each artist (ages 18 to 64) will pay only P10,000 to avail of P75,000 maximum coverage per illness for a year. The premium was usually higher when individually applied for, Bonto explained.<\/p>\n

Strength in numbers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even that amount, however, was not easy to raise for most artists with no steady income. Some borrow money while others pitch in to raise one member’s premium.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be proactive. The idea is to [promote] wellness even before someone gets bedridden or goes terminally ill,\u201d Bonto said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAwpi cannot pay the hospital bills of all the artists. But this gathering of artists for HMO (health maintenance organization) has been an incredible milestone for our industry because it has been the most cost-efficient. Literally, strength in numbers,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n

To Bonto, artists include people behind production\u2014those preparing costumes, the stage and stunt men. Among those who have also signed up were freelance writers, photographers and media workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s not get confined to the standards that \u2018artists\u2019 must first have had a one-month exhibit. You dance, sing, write, as long as you feel that what you\u2019re doing is an art [you qualify],\u201d she said.
\nHealth care was just one of the many challenges, she added.<\/p>\n

In 2015, Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. introduced a bill that seeks to accredit artists so they could also enjoy medical and other benefits that professionals do.<\/p>\n

All the more that artists need to stay healthy in order to continue lobbying for state support to the creative industry, Bonto said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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