The Philippine Online Chronicles

In the recent months, the entertainment world has been rocked by the suspension of Willie Revillame from his ABS-CBN ratings juggernaut Wowowee. The show has already been replaced by the Kris Aquino headliner Pilipinas Win na Win. The new show isn’t getting the same warm welcome that its predecessor got, probably because it doesn’t have the charm and earnestness of Willie.

Recently, Revillame held a presscon and declared that he is ending his contract with ABS-CBN, more than a year early that it is due to expire. For those of you who have lived under a rock or simply haven’t cared, this whole bruhaha started because Willie made some sort of comment threatening to walk out of his show if his network executives don’t fire and put a stop to Jobert Sucaldito bad mouthing Willie on his radio show, which is also owned by the network.

Talk about power of the press! A few on air comments and it resulted in the suspension of the host and ultimate cancellation of one of the most successful shows on daytime television.

Willie claims that he is being treated unfairly. This is a guy who makes a reported P40 million a month, or more than a million pesos a day by encouraging lolas to sing on national TV and carry on antics with co-hosts Mariel Rodriguez and Pokwang. For their part, ABS-CBN claims that Willie acted in a manner unbefitting a host. In so many words, mayabang daw. The network suspending one of its most popular talents is probably a way for them to release him from the contract leading to non-renewal so they don’t have to pay his exorbitant talent fee any more. Who knows? Who cares?

This is a socio-political blog, so you may be wondering why there is an entry about Revillame’s contractual problems with ABS-CBN.

That is precisely the point. It seems that the public cares more about what is going on with the unimportant matters rather than the big picture. We are hearing more noise about Willie’s issues with the network management than P-Noy’s plans on how to wrestle with our economic situation.

If you ask a person off the street, he can probably tell you what he thinks about Pilipinas Win na Win or give their opinions about Willie’s plight, but he probably wouldn’t be able to give you a name of the top 14 highest paid appointed officials in government. Ask your kasambahays what is P-Noy’s first executive order or where he decided to live and they probably wouldn’t be able to tell you (for those who don’t know, it’s EO1 establishing a Truth Commission and P-Noy’s residence is now Bahay Pangarap). Your driver, kasambahays and suki at the palengke however, can likely share with you that Willie owns a building called Wil Towel and Kris has finally announced she’s annulling her marriage to basketball player James Yap. Talk about priorities!

People care more about what will show up on their television screens at noon, than they do about what is happening with Hacienda Luisita and the farmers, the status of all the midnight appointees of the previous government or what the President’s truth commission has done so far.

Why do we care more about the inane, senseless and unimportant, and look the other way when it comes to matters of national importance? Don’t people realize that continued and unchecked graft and corruption in government directly affects all Filipinos? Whatever economic policies the President and the government come up with ultimately affect how much we end up paying in taxes, fuel, energy and basic commodities?

We live in a culture where the mediocre is sensationalized and ridiculous makes for great TV. The general public don’t really want to know about the nitty gritty of government as long as corruption isn’t so blatant, and no one takes away our noontime shows. Perhaps if government decided to tax television viewing on an hourly basis, the public will surely make a clamor for political change. Imagine the change in masa public education if a noontime show suddenly makes a quick discussion about a particular newsworthy headline? Oprah does it on her show, encouraging viewers to go out and vote or write to a congressman to support a particular law. Why don’t the entertainers do it here?

This shows the tremendous power of media on how it shapes and influences a nation. Here is a medium that is easily accessible to millions of Filipinos. Instead of harnessing its power to disseminate worthwhile information and educate the public, it is used to sell products we don’t need and fill our afternoons with noise and inanity.

We as a nation need to take more responsibility for our government and issues of national concern. We can’t keep trying to escape the dreariness of our lives by watching stupid albeit hilarious antics on television if we want to make an authentic change. Why aren’t all these viewers out working or studying anyway? Is the unemployment rate that high?

Who cares about Willie Revillame and all other showbiz chickas and the personal lives of people we don’t really even know? Millions of Filipino households (here and abroad) apparently do.

And who cares about P-Noy and his economic policies anyway?

If only that attention could be diverted to something more noteworthy.