CEBU CITY, Philippines— ‘Buwag Balik’ Cebuana singer and songwriter Lourdes Maglinte is making a stand against her former publisher, Christian Darius “Ian” Zafra, of ICO Music.
In a press release, Maglinte expressed her dismay for Zafra, who allegedly misrepresented her and collected the license fees from the film “Gensan Punch” by renowned Filipino director Brilliante Mendoza on her behalf.
Maglinte said that a Facebook post by Cebuana Diva Dulce made her realize that she has to claim compensation for the use of her winning Vispop song “Laylay” in the movie Gensan Punch that recently premiered at the 26th Busan International Film Festival.
The film that is based on the true story of Naozumi Tsuchiyama, Japanese man with a prosthetic leg who visited the Philippines to train and pursue his dream of becoming a boxing professional, is also set to be released on HBO Asia Original soon.
After doing some research with Dulce’s help, Maglinte said she discovered that the film producers, in good faith, wrongfully acquired the license to use her song from Zafra.
She said that ICO Music collected P100, 000 as license fees from the film producers.
“In documents presented by the film producer to Ms. Maglinte, Ian Zafra is shown to have attempted to conceal the transaction by insisting that they keep it “confidential” and have made an assurance that the songwriter Lourdes Maglinte has been duly informed of the use.
Last October 5, 2021, Ms. Maglinte sent a third cease and desist letter to Ian Zafra through her current lawyer Atty. Rhea Mae Senining-Judilla and a notice to the public via a Facebook post that Ian Zafra and/or ICO Music does not represent her or her songs anymore. In the same post, she also thanked the film producers for cooperating with her on the matter,” the press release reads.
Three years ago, Maglinte also wrote Zafra to expressed her intention to no longer renew her contract with ICO Music because of the company’s failure to pay her royalty claims for her other songs since 2013.
Since 2018, Maglinte said that she no long had any business with her former publisher./ dcb