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Oh, Senator Bong Revilla Jr. from the province of Cavite has abruptly taken the center stage in the last couple of days both on TV interviews (which he consistently does) and a rare privilege speech to lash out immoralities of sex scandals in our society speaking up like some member of the Inquisition of the middle ages. The only difference is Bong does not wear those funny toga and clerical outfits with henchmen on the side, instead have his own version of a long-back hairstyle (looks like mine). His barber should be very lucky to be still walking a free man.

And though his privilege speech was obviously well-written and well-researched by his staff, his delivery nonetheless was very much painted with nervousness and by his familiarity of “where is the camera” looks. These ironies are indicative of two reasons: first, because he delivers privilege speeches lesser than the number of his fingers on his right hand and second because he has perfected the art of acting in front of the camera. Lights, camera, speak honorable senator!

 

Alec Baldwin’s Bad Joke

“A senator from the Philippines cries foul and seeks an apology from Mr. Baldwin over his deemed derogatory remarks…” was the somewhat the report of Debbie Matenoupolous at E!’s Top Ten Weekend (hey, got tired of the senseless eccentric showbiz reporting of Kris Aquino who only wants to flaunt by the way her freckled back and what else, herself and misadventures!). Then the picture of Mr. Revilla was flashed! Wow! So he could now be leveled side by side with Charice and Arnel Pineda as international stars eh? Hmmm…It would be very interesting if Debbie and her team could also report Mike A’s diarrhea after voraciously consuming Ben Abalo’s “burjer” the last time he went on a presidential trip, or GMA’s infamous “I am sorry, noh”.

On to the main topic. Before, it was Teri Hatcher questioning the medical qualifications of our doctors. Then, Harry & Paul ridiculing a Filipina maid as a sex symbol. And most recently was Chip Tsao calling our country a nation of servants. Adding to the list just days ago is Alec Baldwin of 30 Rock saying at David Letterman’s Show “I think about getting a Filipino mail-order bride at this point or a Russian one, I don’t care, I’m 51,” He detonated the bomb, came the protests obviously from all sides.

This is totally a nasty, derogatory comment if to be read at face value. Forgive me Oprah, but hey, I always watch the David Letterman Show. And this is my take on this one.

I personally would rather look at these kinds of statements first, in its context and second on the deeper truth that it tries to point us to.

Gary Lising, one of our A-list comedians in the country (save for his corny green jokes), shared his perspective on this kind of issue when he was interviewed by our campus journalists. He said, being a writer before on shows like that of Letterman in the U.S., one really needs to be intelligent as a viewer in order to decipher the bomb of punch lines and second, intelligent enough as a viewer to realize that those punch lines are pointing to glaring bits of reality that we are into. These kinds of shows are never equal to Wowowee (this is mine). Thus, a nation or a collection of people who are not conscious of these two contexts would easily bark at the wrong tree. Furthermore, satire is something that is not yet accepted in the Philippines. Thus we would not wonder why there are those who would crack jokes during a drinking session and would end up a bloody mess in minutes; or hundreds of our radio commentators who tackles societal issues either in satirical or frank manner ending up on the long death list of Filipino journalists.

I asked myself therefore, if Teri, Harry & Paul, Chip Tsao and Alec Baldwin are saying all these things I think Alec’s remark is not the last one we will ever hear (lest…), then maybe there is really some truth to it? If my father, mother, brother, sister, even my neighbor and officemates are telling me that I have a dark skin, would I cry racial discrimination or will I look in the mirror?

According to one of our local news channel, the Philippines and Russia are the two top countries that advertise in the U.S. mail order brides, quoting from one recent research study (if I could only find that research). Then, Baldwin is certainly pointing to something true, he just forgot the citation.

For me, though diplomatic protests and all these noise being created by politicians on riding with the issue for their own political grand-staging are done and we may get the sincerest apologies of Alec, the question is, since there is some truth in all that these people are saying, “what are we to do next?” So far, what I have only seen from the government is as part of our collective effort on the issue is just to “bark” and wait for another slur.

Another Hilton for Stardom or Behind Bars?

This is not another Paris Hilton, or Kim Kardashian or Edie Chen  sex scandal case on the spot spotlight; with the first two getting famous and a million dollar richer from their sex videos and the last one fleeing away from Hong Kong so as not to suffer from the hands of protesters.

This is Dr. Hayden Kho, a celebrity medical doctor who got the ire and tons of tirade from Sen. Revilla and feminists groups. On his “rare privilege speech” entitled “A Doctor’s Perversity” (wow, this could pass for a good film title and I bet Sen. Bong taking the lead role will surely make him take home the top acting plum, just like his buddy Jinggoy Estrada; Wait are they senators or actors? Darn, I could no longer make any distinction.) after his “sex videos” with different girlfriends especially with Katrina Halili leaked out at video sharing sites. The anger of the senator could not be contained that he labeled Kho a “pervert of the highest order” and a “predator” and is seeking from the Professional Regulation Commission the revocation of his medical license.

This is not something new. So many innocent women have already been victimized by crazy perverts and those videos were used to blackmail the victims for either cash or another cheap romance. The lack of specific law that would punish individuals with this kind of perversity passes them to be filled a case with a lower punishment and fine. Therefore, perverts are unfortunately could easily be back roaming the streets hunting for their next victim. Thumbs up to Sen. Revilla on this, only until he does everything he preached especially the passage a specific law to combat this ill. We are watching Kap.

If Hayden  Kho has to learn some valuable lessons therefore from the honorable senator and other pablings, these are; First, ask the consent of your partner, use your charm not brute force. Second, don’t make any sex videos all the more leak these stuffs to You Tube; don’t leave any evidence or trail. Gossips are gossips but evidence would kill you man. And third, keep it clean dude, nice and easy. Did I get it right Sir Bong? Now, I am not anymore wondering why he is fondly called Hayden…he likes to put “hayden cameras” during his hot moments. You crap doctor! You deserve and all fellow perverts to languish behind bars.

Senator Revilla is really doing over time eh?

On to you guys. What is your opinion regarding Alec Baldwin’s remarks; should it be taken as a joke or taken seriously offending? Do you think that these incidents from Teri to Alec are serious issues worth introspecting? What can you say about Dr. Hayden Kho’s sex schandals and posting these on video sharing sites? So Senator is really doing some catching up? Let us make this issue more interesting by sharing our thoughts here.

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photo from coloria

After the Hong Kong columnist Chip Tsao’s anti-racial remarks published on HK Magazine Online last March 27, publishers and editors asked for an apology from the Philippine government while the said article could not anymore be viewed.

Tsao’s strong assertion that the disputed Spratly Islands belong to China and that the Red Republic has total sovereignty on it boiled down to his stupid line of argumentation which is totally moronic and unbecoming for a respected columnist.

He went to say that he summoned his Filipina maid Louisa who has a degree in international politics from the University of Manila and told her that if she wants a salary increase, she needs to tell her follow maids that Spratlys belongs to none but China.

He continued that “As a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter”. And there sparked the uproar from Filipinos who fight for the welfare and good of domestic helpers, NGOs, politicians who want to look good in front of the camera and politicians who aspire for re-electtions and the presidency.

There is no doubt that the remarks of this unrepentant columnist from Hong Kong hits the Filipino ego and identity. His flawed argumentation and justification that Spratlys is China’s domain is nothing but a show of sheer arrogance and bullying to a small and silent nation south of their vast country.

However, his remarks also send a clear message of indeed, what identity the Filipino nation has built in the past decades.

The exodus of millions of Filipinos since the American occupation to look for greener pastures is nothing but a stark indication of our domestic affairs and directions. Governments since then, especially of the present administration has done nothing to stop our fellow Pinoys from creating more broken homes but has since then even pushed many of us to leave by thousands and maybe even millions and be given a big joke as New-day Heroes.

I cannot blame Filipinos who are leaving to give their families better lives, however, if you ask them if they only have a chance not to leave and only be given good job opportunities in the country, their answer is a clear yes. Leaving our families for some bigger pay on foreign lands is totally outside the spectre of our identity as Filipinos who value family life more than anything else. Being an OFW almost always simply means disenchantment and desperation in our own country plagued by corruption and poverty; the thriving few rich men and millions of poor men, women and children.

This incident mirrors the chronic illness that our country is presently suffering. It mirrors the failure of our governments to provide us the very basic things that we need and their failure to perform their jobs as elected leaders, that we are looking for it on some lands and governments.

It may be a knee-jerk reaction but at the end of the day, politicians will just point on who is to blame and maybe even use jargons to hide the ugly reality of poverty and corruption in our nation. At the end of the day, they will only blame everyone else except themselves who have ransacked the wealth of our country and preserved the long been enslavement of the average Pinoy.

Looking a the issue at face value, Tsao has no right to call us a nation of slaves but on a deeper examination, the truth is a saddening affirmation that we are indeed a nation living under a constant enslavement of our own making. We have left our nation, through the apathy of many of us the direction and future of our nation solely on the hands of our incompetent and corrupt leaders. We conspired with our perpetrators to enslaved us and maybe even the generations that would come after us, by our silence.

We are enslaved by poverty, illiteracy and corruption. And now, we are very angry at someone calling us a nation of slaves. Sad to say, this is typical of us; we are angry at our neighbor saying some nasty things about our families but we have condoned our own family members to do the very things our neighbors are telling us.

Sad to say, at the end of the day, maybe the unrepentant Tsao is just but right.

Before, when you ask me if I love watching Desperate Housewives, minus the Desperate Housewives scandal, my answer is a big YES, period. I love that ABC show together with Grey’s Anatomy and Justice. But since the great outrage of Filipinos with one of the recent DH episode’s discriminating remarks against our medical professionals, I now answer the abovementioned question not anymore with a big YES and period but with this kind of “yes”, and with a but. Below is an email of a Filipino expat detailing the episode of DH that he had watched:

“The scene entailed Teri Hatcher’s character (Susan) at a hospital, being told by her gynecologist that she might be hitting menopause. Susan replied, “Can I just check those diplomas because I just want to make sure that they are not from some med school in the Philippines .” If you go to abc.com, you watch the full episode and witness the scene at about 18:50 minutes into the episode.”

The remark from the cast of Desperate Housewives is indeed very baseless, senseless and of course, very discriminating. Millions of Filipinos are taking care of millions of sick, disabled and elderly Americans most them experiencing the great pain of leaving their families behind for greener pastures as they say. They take care of people they do not even know because of the great financial rewards, but they cant even take care and cure of their families’ illnesses and sickness.

With the strict rules and qualifications that the US is implementing to all their foreign workers, I think the process alone of going through the eye of a needle just to get a working visa is already enough proof of our workers’ qualifications and competence abroad.

Here in the Philippines of course, I can say that there are rooms for doubts when it comes to competence. With leakages in the boards exams and insiders at PRC, the public is not yet safe from medical malpractices of both competent and incompetent doctors and medical professionals.

I would still watch Desperate Housewives…and as our La Salle Brother-mentor in high school usually tell us; “Think and judge everything as a Christian.” Well, I think Teri Hatcher (Susan) only made such discriminating, senseless and baseless remark because basically she is “desperate”. Can’t we all get it, she is a desperate housewife anyway! Any desperate housewife being told by her doctor that she is having her menopause (a woman’s greatest enemy, ehehe) would be screeming like freak and would be thinking out of reason, like a running wheel without any axle.

And I think I can make big bucks with my ingenious suggestion of making Desperate Housewife a reality show instead with Teri as the lead star in the first season. Desperate Housewife: Teri Hatcher Reality Show.

Thinnnkkk…Teri is desperate housewife, desperate thinker, desperate actress, ehehehe!