i hate to rain on abs-cbn channel 2’s parade but i must say, medyo ill-timed ang kanilang “bayanijuan” papogi promo, coming as it does when the people’s lopez-meralco woes remain unresolved. this must be why ang dating sa akin ay tipong damage control. the network’s way of distancing itself from the lopez owners’ other bigtime earner meralco, as if to say, wala kaming kinalaman diyan, ha. haha, how ilusyonado naman.
even more unfortunate, the campaign was launched in the wake of anc’s news embargo on the ces drilon kidnapping, so that my kneejerk reaction was, ano daw? walang iwanan? in my book, iwanan blues ang nangyari when maria ressa simply refused to tell us what she knew, even when ces drilon was already out of danger. iwanan blues ang patuloy na nangyayari since ayaw pa rin nilang magkuwento, how afraid, how careful, naman.
hindi bale sana kung naiiba itong kampanyang bayanijuan, eh not in the least. it’s just another show (pakitang-tao) of “corporate social responsibility” as practiced by oligarchs who make sooooooo much money out of selling us all sorts of things, they assuage their guilt by “giving back,” i.e., undertaking relief projects for disaster victims and donating a small percentage of their huge profits to generate income and services for the poor, which, really, barely make a dent on the country’s poverty and hunger situation, much like government dole-outs. teaching a man to fish instead of giving him fish no longer works, not when the big ships get to the fish first.
‘ika nga ni environmentalist maximo “junie” kalaw back in the ’90s:
Quite a few business enterprises would be found caught in the internal contradiction of donating to the poor with one hand and contributing to their poverty with the other.
A better way of approaching the issue is to consider the business community’s relationship with the people and with the resources utilized,in the context of the whole community.
The questions to ask are not about which social projects may be appended to a business enterprise but about what goods it is producing and how; what resources it is using. . . . what technology is being used. . . . what its effects are on the people and the environment; how profit is earned, who benefits, and who is deprived by the economic activity.”
kumbaga, kung media ang pinagkakakitaan, sa pamamagitan din ng media mag-give-back to the people. if abs-cbn truly wants a bagong simula sa ating bayan it is in a very good position to do so simply by broadening its thrust – imbes na puro escapist entertainment, give the public some intelligent informative stuff naman, yung meron silang mapupulot na kaalaman na maaaring ikaangat ng kanilang buhay.
topping my list would be daily 30-minuters (to be aired three or more times a day) that would teach us all to speak better english (and tagalog, and maybe the basics of bisaya, ilokano, kampampangan) harnessing the potentials of audio-visual technologies to teach classroom stuff in appealing interesting effective ways.
i can hear the sighs. walang mag-a-advertise sa ganyang show, saan sila kukuha ng pera pang-produce? aha. here’s precisely where “giving back” (good for the soul) or “paying forward” (good for the karma) kicks in. abs-cbn shoulders the expenses, of course, in the spirit of corporate social responsibility. who knows, if they’re smart and call in their judays and claudines to pitch in and take turns hosting the shows, i’m sure may mag-a-advertise.
and how about bringing back the public affairs talk shows? if abs-cbn truly wants a bagong simula sa ating bayan, ibalik naman please ang public affairs talk shows, which are essential to a democracy of adequately informed decisions. wag naman puro showbiz talk at reality tv. e ano kung walang mag-advertise. corporate social responsibility nga, di ba?
unfortunately, i’m not optimistic about abs-cbn. seems to me that its creatives are not quite tuned in to the real world. take the script of a series of video clips designed to inspire the youth to action:
“Jose Rizal, edad 26 nunglumabas ang Noli Me Tangere. . . . Jacinto at Del Pilar, 19 noong sumali sa Katipunan. . . . Ikaw, ilang taon ka na?”
LOL! AS IF! kung meron bang sumulat ngayon ng librong tipong noli me tangere, meron kayang magpa-publish? meron kayang magbabasa? basahin kaya ng mga taga-abs-cbn? at kung sumali ang kabataan sa isang samahang tipong katipunan, hindi ba’t ha-hunting-in lang sila ng military at makukulong, o mawawala a la jonas burgos? hahanapin kaya sila ng abs-cbn? LOL! AS IF!
The “Idiotization of the Pinoy” is the principal achievement of both ABS-CBN and GMA 7.Look at all their inane shows aimed at the mass market.Disgusting!
Bravo! I totally agree with your take on ABS-CBN’s (and other big media’s, including government) lack of responsibiity in providing Educational Content.
That being said, the Lopezes are probably one of the more sensitive Oligarchs and they are seeing the handwriting on the wall. They should stop this transparent tokenism and sloganeering to the public, and focus more on convincing their fellow Oligarchs to change their ways and genuinely reform Society by addressing the problem of Inequality.
come to think of it, the last time that phil. television came out with progressive shows like all those public service and human affairs docus and talk shows (super late nga lang and air time pero i remember watching them as a gradeschooler), political satires like the sic o’clock news, abangan ang susunod na kabanata was after the 1986 EDSA uprising. notice also that all those progressive documentaries exposing graft and corruption, the plight of the poor as well as their struggle had their air time after EDSA 2. nag-fade ulit, then came the heroic emergence of the guys from channel 5 with their powerful documentary State of war–that was two years ago at the height of the OUST Arroyo campaign. I see a trend here. Progress in media representations has got to come from the people. Pag malakas ang people power, profiteering institutions like those large media conglomerates have no choice but to take after the people’s diwang palaban. Lumalala ang ideological offensive kagaya ng halimbawa ni Angela kapag tila hindi pa natitipon ng husto ang lakas ng sambayanan. Reform could only come from below, from pressures coming from the people’s drive towards social transformation. Whether benevolent or otherwise, oligarchs are already in a good position, why would they want reforms? unless of course they are threatened by the counter-hegemonic impulse of the people. At yan ang parating burden ng kilusang mapagpalaya. Pwede naman singilin nang singilin ang mga oligarkiya pero sa huli, kung sino ang may wager ng pagbabago ay siya ring nararapat magmobilisa, magorganisa para rito. Medyo sad na ganito ang lumalabas sa tv sa ngayon, indikasyon na tila marami pang hahabulin at kakayurin. sad pero challenging din siguro.
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