MANILA -- Actor and 4th District of Leyte Rep. Richard Gomez is pushing for the creation a national film archive to help "restore" our culture.

Appearing on "Headstart" on Friday, Gomez said he has filed HB No. 936 to put up a central film archive to be managed by the Film Development Council.

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"By putting a national archive, you are restoring our culture. The problem with the film industry, in the past, we've used a lot of film stocks. Ginagamit natin 'yung mga negative natin kapag nanonood tayo ng movies. And thousands of movies have been produced in the past. The problem is, there's no proper storage for all these film stocks," Gomez explained.

"Ang nangyayari, nawawala, ninanakaw, nagiging torotot. Makikita mo sa Quiapo binibili roon ng mga tao. So hindi ba kapag 'yung torotot kapag hinila mo, makikita mo film stock, nanggagaling sa local archive ng mga film productions because there is no one central film archive in the Philippines that will really store, keep and make sure na itong national treasure natin is being kept well. You know all these films that we have, all the films that were produced, all national gems, and hindi natin dapat pabayaan na masira lang ang mga ito. That's why a film archive is very important," Gomez added.

Gomez said the government should lead the effort in restoring films and keeping it safe.

"On the private sector, there are very few na kayang mag-restore except 'yung mga active lang ngayon. Pero the films like Sampaguita, like LVN who have produced hundreds and hundreds of movies naiiwanan lang 'yung mga raw stocks nila. So it's about time that the government should take care of this national treasure. And put up a building specifically just for safekeeping, temperature-controlled, humidity-controlled film archive. That is my sentiment as an actor," Gomez said.

"In the country kasi isa sa pinakamalaking problema ng bansa natin, tayong mga Filipino, our culture doesn't really push us na mag-keep ng records. Mahina tayo sa record-keeping natin. That's why even if you take a look at Philippine history, ang alam lang natin dumating ang mga Españo ldito, kinapture tayo ng Español, dumating ang mga Amerikano, nagkaroon ng Japanese war. But in between that mahina ang record-keeping natin," he added.

Last Tuesday Gomez turned to social media to share the first five bills he filed as representative from Leyte's 4th District.

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A post shared by Richard Gomez 🇵🇭 (@richardgomezinstagram)

In last May 9 elections, Gomez successfully swapped local positions with his wife Lucy Torres, who is now the mayor of Ormoc City.

• ichard at Lucy Gomez, waging magpalit-puwesto sa halalan