Alleba Politics

We’ve all heard of them. Ethel Booba, Francine Prieto, Heart Evangelista, Piolo Pascual, Mahal, Richard Gutierrez and so many more have been the hapless victims of cellphone video scandals that have become a staple of Sunday showbiz news commentaries. They aren’t amused, to say the least, making flat out denials and stress that it’s absolutely none of our business.

Is it or is it not? When you join showbiz anything that you say or do becomes the business of the people watching you. Whether you like it or not, people will be looking at your every move, even on cellphones. Hence, actors should take extra care when they take videos of themselves, most especially in compromising situations such as sex. Case in point: Ethel Booba. The video she was in (yes, it was definitely 100% her) didn’t look like something she was coerced to be in. She wasn’t screaming “Rape!” nor “Saklolo!” nor was she handcuffed (although that would be interesting). Yet she cried foul and denied to death that it was a video of her and her boyfriend doing the nasty. Yet, how can she allow that video to be taken in the first place? Ignorance is bliss, but in Booba’s case it’s the opposite. She acted stupid and she’s paying for it big time. Hey Ethel, tell your basketball-brained boyfriend that next time he goes to Greenhills to have his cellphone repaired, THINK. Yes, Richard, you too.

The advertising industry had recently jumped into the bandwagon of pretentious morality. After the uproar these scandals had caused, calls for boycotting such shows as S-Files and The Buzz have been made to ‘teach’ them a lesson. But what about those days when they did advertise on these shows when the scandals were being aired? Who are the hypocrites now?

But the ones who are really at fault is the ever-righteous MTRCB, the so-called “guardians of broadcasted morality”. Apparently, these oldies were too busy munching on popcorn while Piolo Pascual was making his X-rated debut on television. They *should* have done something to control this disturbing trend before it turned into a monster as this. Just think of all the parents scrambling to cover their children’s eyes. What about those with 6 kids, they would need three arms each!

The subject of sex, violence and decency in the media is not to be taken lightly when you think about how our youth can be affected. Anything they see and hear becomes easily engrained in their minds. We’ve gotten numb hearing about kids in the news acting out their curiosities, albeit dangerously — pulling the trigger on others, burning their pets, ramming cars against trees. You name it, they’ve done it. All because of the unregulated trash they see on television.

The MTRCB should shape up or ship out ASAP. With the country’s current 2.3% population growth rate and extreme poverty, we don’t need our youth’s morals go crashing down the drain. Not now. Not ever.

*No videos mentioned in this article are available for download in Alleba Politics.

A few days ago the Committee to Protect Journalists named the Philippines as the most dangerous place for journalists. A total of 18 journalists in the country were murdered in a span of 5 years, putting it on top the of list before Iraq, Colombia, Bangladesh and Russia. The Philippine government continues to turn a blind eye on these killings, well, probably because it lacks the will to do anything about it. The police? They arrest the people who carry out the crime but never the ones who ordered them.

The masterminds are the corrupt officials that we elected into office. The same people who made lengthy and rosy promises to make our lives better should they be chosen. They are also cowardly, so much so that they can’t handle criticism, or the fact that someone is merely telling the truth. Why don’t they act on their shortcomings rather than permanently put to silence a person who is doing his or her job?

You can easily pinpoint a corrupt official by the sheer number of imported SUV’s in his security convoy. These cars are either given as gifts or purchased using his pork barrel. Why does he need so much protection? Well, there may be two or more reasons. One is that the sight of him having ten or more short-sleeved baronged bodyguards will almost certainly cause a stir wherever he goes. That will make him feel important (albeit falsely) and “untouchable”. This official has a special room in his mansion where all kinds of high-powered guns are stored. The second reason is that he may have made himself a ton of enemies during his tenure. He may have unseated a very corrupt and angry incumbent, turned down a project that could have made someone very rich, or was simply doing his job.

Catching the ire of a corrupt official is quite easy. Write an article or go on TV or radio to expose his corrupt ways! There’s a 99.9% chance your name will make it in his “to-do list”. He pays his trusty vigilante, and bang! You’re history. The police comes into the picture. They have no suspects. The official pretends to cooperate and points to the vigilante. The poor guy (well, not really) is sent to prison to rot (he might as well, or else…). Once again, the corrupt official had planned another successful assassination.

Hearing about journalists getting shot is nothing new here in the Philippines. That’s why I wasn’t surprised that we made it to number 1. Hooray! Where the party? Kidding aside, there’s nothing to celebrate about until we kick out all those fugly and grossly corrupt officials sitting in Malacanang, the Courts, the Cabinet, the Senate, the Congress, down to the local government. You know who you are. Maybe we won’t see that day in our lifetime. But I’d like to think so. Until that day comes, journalists should continue their quest for the dissemination of the truth, and nothing but, despite the threats involved.