Better Philippines

Showbiz Na Naman!

I can acknowledge that Kris Aquino served a valuable purpose in the aftermath of tropical storm Ondoy.  As one of the hosts of ABS-CBN’s telethon for calamity victims, Kris coaxed quite a number of corporate entities to contribute part of their resources to the relief effort. In fairness to her, she was really able to put her celebrity to good use that time.

I don’t think I can say the same for the showbiz personalities who showed up for the Tumana River cleanup today.

Someone I know who witnessed the event told me that, instead of helping move the clean up forward, the showbiz personalities’ presence actually delayed the whole operation. I have no way of verifying this but I can imagine how the whole thing could have easily turned into one big showbiz event. I suspect a lot of gawking and showboating took place and very little real work was done while those artistas were there.

Mga ateng at kuyang, kung medyo magulo pa ang sitwasyon huwag na sana muna kayo mag-display display diyan. Baka lalo lang magkagulo dahil sa inyong nakakasilaw na kagandahan at kagwapuhan.

I don’t mean to cast doubt on the sincerity of showbiz personalities. I’m sure many of them really want to help out. But, just the same, I will say that there’s something wrong when a calamity of this magnitude ends up being reduced to a showbiz spectacle.

Admittedly, this is really more of an issue against the bright minds running the TV networks. After all they’re the ones with the crazy marketing ideas. Still, I think our artistas should know better. They do have minds of their own, don’t they?

And speaking of ideas, local media is again giving too much focus on buzzwords. Two of the more popular nowadays are resilience and Bayanihan. Just the other night I even heard one reporter say that resilience is a unique Filipino trait. Unique? Really now. And, what about Bayanihan? Well, let’s just say that raving on and on about it is just annoying especially in light of the fact that this supposedly very Filipino tradition seems to be observed now only during times of calamity.

I have one simple request to the powers that be behind local media. Please don’t contribute to the dumbing down of this nation. Don’t promote the idea — intentionally or otherwise — that being resilient is enough and that our inconsistent practice of bayanihan is something to be proud of.

And, btw, who the hell cares if it was Richard Gutierrez or Ara Mina who rescued Christine Reyes?