Pray tell, in language understandable to everyone, whether or not Willieng Willie’s show on TV 5 could have been an indubitable case of violation of Republic Act 7160 or the anti-child abuse law in so far as the 12 March sequel involving a child named Jan Jan Estrada is concerned. Did the host Willie Revillame intentionally humiliate, debase, degrade, denigrade, demean, traumatize Jan Jan whose talent it was for him to dance a la macho dancer?
It is, to my mind, making a fuss out of nothing at all. It is not remotely just making a mountain out of a molehill. TV host Willie, cut a time out of his show, to make himself clear on the issue and there seems to be some truth in his suspicion that some people are really trying to give that particular segment a different spin that would cast him in negative light. It is hard to think otherwise since the young show seems to gather a lot of following. The hits for Jan Jan alone breached 400,000 mark since the issue has been indicatively hyped, sensationalized, and blown out of proportion.
Before anyone like a social welfare secretary cries wolf, isn’t it territorial for the MTRCB to first take cognizance – weigh the show – to see if it carries all the ‘sinful’ imputations slapped against it? As a student of policy, it is my submission that it is well within the wisdom of MTRCB, first and foremost, to issue its stand on the matter before the show Willieng Willie suffer from ‘trial by publicity’. It is not as if TV audiences do not understand an ongoing turf war that has never died to this day between two leading TV channels. And if this orgy continues, some segment in the viewing universe might just shift to TV 5 as an alternative channel to watch. After all, it is unpretentiously, pro-poor.
Willieng Willie, by every indication, is a show that promotes social welfare through monetary cash and ‘’bundles of joy” in terms of various promo products from TV 5’s patronizing sponsors. In fact, it seems that everyone has the same opportunity to join the show in order to come home with some ‘helpful’ cash which is the reason that makes the show tick to most TV audiences.
For the good DSWD secretary to pray that children the age of Jan Jan be banned from participating in the show and for Willie Revillame to be rebuked or sanctioned – to my mind – are like pointing to the moon. From where I stand, it is an exercise in futility to even try to bring it up in a court of law. Comedy by definition is too encompassing and laughter is a social contagion, we all, wittingly or unwittingly, could be guilty of.
While this writer is not a fan of Willie, like many in the viewing universe, I am of the view that Willie Revillame could not have intentionally committed the imputations lodged against him. Those who used their ‘colored lenses’ to see the reality-tv-like show in an entirely different light just cannot impose their idiosyncrasies upon us.
In any event, must this gameshow fold tent, nothing can replace it anyway – nothing within this genre that caught the popular imagination. Poor people just need money and they need them every time. Isn’t that what the show is all about? Now tell me, how much of money can DSWD give to poor people asking for assistance, DSWD secretary? Remember that more is good and less is certainly humiliating unless one can make valid claim of having given more, not less, to the needy beyond mere motherhood statement. (nielsky_2003@yahoo.com, 09164985265)