Saving Philamlife Theater: man behind movement

This is in reference to Nestor U. Torre’s article “As good as gold” (Entertainment, 5/25/13) where he noted that SM has bought the historical Philam Life Building on UN Avenue and expressed his fear that it could end up as a nondescript mall. He said that he was happy to hear that several artists had started a movement to “save the Philamlife Theater.”

Perhaps Torre did not know that it was Olivier Ochanine, the French conductor of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, who started this movement. We Filipinos should express our gratitude to Ochanine for taking the trouble to organize this movement and to negotiate with the SM administration to ensure that the Philamlife Theater is saved for the enjoyment of future generations of Filipinos.

—VIOLETA HUGHES-DAVIS,

vhughes@pldtdsl.net