IT'S official: starting this September up to the end of the year, "Miss Saigon" will finally be performed in Manila, more than 10 years after it opened in London with Filipinos playing most of the major Asian roles in the show.

Many people who haven't seen the show in its various reincarnations abroad are happy that they will finally be able to see the show without having to purchase a plane ticket to do so. On the other hand, there are those who don't think that the Manila performances of the show are that big a deal.

Listen, therefore, to the arguments pro and con, and make up your own mind afterwards:

Pro: It's great to be able to honor the musical that put Filipino talent on the world map! After their stint in 'Saigon,' Lea Salonga did an American TV movie, Junix Inocian joined the cast of "Cats," Robert Seña played Judas in "Jesus Christ Superstar," all productions mounted either in the States or Europe.

Con: But they were more the exceptions than the rule. Most of the other Filipino talents in "Miss Saigon" haven't exactly set the theater world on fire. And besides, the audience abroad doesn't really care all that much about the nationality of a performer, just if the performer is good or bad. So, claims that "Miss Saigon" established Filipino theater talents abroad are exaggerated.

Pro: That's sour-graping, pure and simple. Anyway, another reason why we should cheer the local staging of "Miss Saigon" is the fact that it brings to local shores a major theater hit abroad, a significant theatrical achievement that has won Tonys, Olivier awards, etc. It's good to expose local audiences to the best of world theater!

Con: Yes, but at such a huge expense-in the hundreds of millions of pesos! All that money would have been better spent training our theater talents, developing good local material, and supporting the efforts of our best theater directors, playwrights, composers, etc., instead of just staging a foreign work that has already made so much money for its British producers.

Pro: But the money being spent to stage "Miss Saigon" here is private, it doesn't come from the government, so why oblige the financiers to support local efforts? They can do what they like with their money! And anyway, it's still culture, so why knock it just because it isn't all-Filipino?

Con: That's not the point-but let's not belabor it, even if you don't see it. Another negative factor is the criticism raised by Asian-Americans in the States when the musical opened on Broadway: It perpetuates the white man's hoary and insulting clichés about Asians-they are depicted as prostitutes, complaisant courtesans who subjugate themselves to their white lovers. Or they're violent and vicious men who can't be trusted and always have a hidden agenda--the enigmatic, inscrutable and devious schemer of old in modern dress!

Pro: Boy, you're really getting carried away! Why place so much importance on and attribute so many negative consequences to a mere stage musical? It's just entertainment, stop analyzing it to death and weighing it down with all of your prejudices!

Con: Wow, so now I'm the one who's prejudiced?! Don't you know that big foreign shows like "Miss Saigon" help perpetuate the colonial mentality or preference for anything imported that has limited the progress of local theatrical productions? It encourages prejudice against Filipino works, which end up with the smallest slice in terms of budget and size of audience. Study the performing scene here and you'll see that the biggest budgets go to the production of foreign works. This is the Philippines, so Filipino productions should get more support than foreign plays or musicals.

Pro: That's rather myopic and insular thinking, don't you think? Sure, we're in the Philippines and we're Filipinos, but we're also citizens of the world. In this ultra-modern, high-tech age when many barriers have been lifted, don't you think we should open ourselves up to inputs from everywhere, not just from local artists? Le everyone compete in a free marketplace of ideas, and let the audience choose what it wants to patronize!

Con: That sounds so wise and liberal, but it ignores the colonial miseducation we've had for centuries, which has subliminally made us favor foreign products over local ones. That's a huge obstacle to overcome for Filipino works to do well in your so-called free marketplace of ideas, which is really not free at all!

Filipino works need more support than foreign ones because they have to struggle against our colonial mentality, which is still there and which we must get rid off if we truly want to come into our own as artists and as a people.

Pro: Even if you were right, which is debatable, why take all of that out against one foreign work like "Miss Saigon"? Besides, this particular musical is a poor choice as target because it may be a production from the west, but at least it's set in Asia. So, it's not that foreign to the Filipino experience and sensibility.

Con: Of course it is! The story is told from the point of view of the dominant American characters!

Pro: Of course not, it's Kim's story it's telling!

Con: Yes, but from a western viewpoint!

Pro: That's a biased reading of the material! (Etc.)