Thursday, June 11, 2009

Solis and Belo Watch Out


















by: Andro Ramirez


For once, I am at a loss on how to start writing an article without making it look like a PR job- A thing Belo and Solis love doing. I have even asked the Council explicitly to give this assignment to someone else since it would be very difficult for me to remain objective because the subject is a person I admire tremendously. But no, they did not budge. With no option left, I declare; “I love Osang.”


Borne Jennifer Adriano, this icon is more popularly known as Rosanna “Osang” Roces. From her character's very inception, “Osang” has been known for being outspoken, straightforward, and most of the time brutally candid. She never cultivated a sweet image like her sexy-starlet contemporaries, and even admitted her past indiscretions without fear. The first to bravely admit on air that she has gone under the knife, to enhance her already beautiful looks as Ana Maceda, in a time when such cosmetic procedures is taboo to be admitted on air.


Therefore, I don’t understand why a Lolit Solis would describe her as “mukhang unggoy” before her surgery. Incidentally, the name Ana Maceda was derived from Annabelle Rama and Ernesto Maceda. Still fresh in the showbiz scene during the 90’s and needing a media boost, she named names on national TV regarding the “Bruneiyuki’s” which implicated Ruffa Gutierrez among others. An issue, which later on caught the attention of the SENATE and was investigated. And like all Senate investigations, NOTHING CAME OUT OF IT. Sounds familiar?


Osang, an avid supporter of Victorina, has been in the news again lately when she was sought for her reaction to Vicky Belo being implicated in the Hayden Cam Scandal. Without batting an eyelash, she said, “I think karma has taken its toll on her and it will not stop.” It is fact that Osang used to be an endorser of Belo; they even became partners when they put up “Forever Flawless.” The two had a falling out that led to cases being filed in court, which is still pending as of this writing. A libel case filed by Belo against Osang was dismissed in 2007.


Asked further about Vicky Belo being implicated in the Hayden Kho – Katrina Halili scandal, she says she has no sympathy towards the doctor, whom a while back, she addressed as nothing but a gym instructor. She continues by saying she thanks God that she never got implicated in that kind of a scandal in her life. She adds that she may be ready to forgive (Belo), but sure of herself that she can never forget whatever ills that transpired between her and Belo.


What goes around, comes around... or so the saying goes. According to one media practitioner who wishes to remain unnamed, “Instead of spending frivolously on debauched soirées and lavish parties to further the unnecessary grandness of the Belo brand... Oh and don't forget about the different trips to far-flung cities around the world which she doles out to her media friends... The last time I heard corrupting the values of media men is ghastly. Belo should focus on herself and the people around her. It's like she's living in some fantasy world of her own creation, oblivious to the evils and negativities of the real world.”


Belo and Solis and their devious ways will be forgotten soon but who would forget Osang?


Who could ever forget the 1998 Star awards wherein she came with one of her breasts exposed painted over with body paint... Her nun costume with see through satin back... Her numerous warnings given by the MTRCB. In response, she attended a TV show wearing a black t-shirt with the words “Down With Hypocrisy.” And who woud forget the Rico Yan death controversy that never had an end to it. Her being censured by the KBP along with GMA Anchor Mike Enriquez, made her decide to withdraw its membership from the group.


The list goes on and on.


Rosanna Roces may well be the embodiment of Meredith Brook’s song “Bitch” but borrowing a line from the song and “enhancing” it a bit: “I know I wouldn’t want “Osang” any other way.”



Saturday, April 4, 2009

Magnanimous Manolo



The Victorina Council salutes fellow blogger Manolo Quezon III for his magnanimity in accepting his error in judgment and for apologizing to those who were offended because of his sweeping generalization.

Mabuhay ang Pilipinas.

Mabuhay ang OFWs.

Here is the complete text of Manolo's apology from his blog.

Reyna elena dot com is absolutely correct to take me to task for presuming to catalog people without their permission, something Victorina attributes to a cultural disconnect. Both are absolutely correct: my criticism of those criticizing Chip Tsao was arrogant: unthinking, unfeeling, and unpardonable on my part, because, while entitled to my own opinion, there was absolutely no justification for me to make a sweeping judgment about my countrymen. A negative judgment based on nothing more than my own writerly biases: in other words, a bigoted, prejudiced comment fully deserving of condemnation.Justify Full
Every reader makes up his or her own mind about whatever it is they read; your opinion is as good as mine; and when enough are of the same opinion, well, if there’s smoke, there’s fire.

That Hong Kong columnist deeply offended many Filipinos and instead of castigating my countrymen, I should have recognized the outrage as a manifestation of our collective sensibility, grounded in deep grievances about what drives so many of us to work overseas, under degrading circumstances, and in the face of often insurmountable obstacles that get in the way of securing a decent, dignified, place in the world for so many of us.

I had no right to pass a dismissive, disparaging judgment on fellow Filipinos, merely because they hold an opinion contrary to mine. Not all of us write, but all of us read, and each one is capable of rendering judgment on matters of taste or the lack of it, concerning anything they read. The writer has a particular responsibility to trust the reader, and if a reader reacts in a particular way, one must accept criticism just as one would accept praise.

I thank these two bloggers in particular for putting me in my place, and I hope they will accept this apology, which I extend not only to them, but to anyone offended by my comment on FaceBook.

For what it’s worth, and purely in the spirit of fostering discussion, let me put forward some of my views concerning satire in general, and Chip Tsao’s piece in particular.

I personally believe that we are a nation born of satire, because it was one of the most effective weapons used by our Founding Fathers as they waged two campaigns: first, to convince their countrymen that they were precisely that, a people with a country they should call their own; and second, to assert before all peoples in all climes, that we are a people the equal of any in the world.

That satire was, at times, quite funny, at other times, quite cruel; that satire lampooned Filipinos and foreigners alike, and Filipinos who had a prejudice against their own countrymen that matched, or even exceeded, the prejudice held by foreigners. It didn’t matter if the satirical pen wielded by our Founding Fathers produced sophisticated or crude, tasteful or rude, pleasant or revolting prose. The point is, they used it, and in particular, the two novels that are in a sense, the founding documents of our country, were satirical works meant to hold up a mirror to reveal, as Rizal put it, the social cancer afflicting the Philippines of his time: and he knew full well the fate in store for those who dare to hold up mirrors for others to see themselves in, whether they want to or not. It got him shot; and before that, it got his books banned and garnered imprisonment and exile for those who dared, not even to take up arms against the authorities, but to laugh at them.

If we hold up as heroes those who wielded their pens -often cruelly- and as much against their own countrymen as the foreign officials and churchmen they opposed, I don’t see how we can deny others the right to take up their pens and do unto others as our heroes have done unto ourselves (for they continue to hold up that mirror to every generation that bothers to re-read what they’ve written). I also don’t see how we can call for the same intolerance -to the extent of demanding some sort of retribution, or even cruel and unusual punishment- when it comes to opinions that we find deeply offensive.

The Founding Fathers fought words with words, opinions with contrary opinions, and demanded of those whom they viewed as prejudiced and bigoted nothing more or less than a fair hearing, a chance to rebut their arguments, and an opportunity to disprove wrong facts with true ones. All the while being careful to point out what they most definitely could not and would never tolerate: silencing dissent with force of arms, and the kind of fanaticism that led to Inquisitions and book-burnings.

To my mind we have a kind of historical obligation to recognize that, perhaps more so than many other countries but at least as much as some countries familiar to us, we are a people and a country that owe our very existence to the commitment of writers to challenge, irritate, offend, and outrage others.

It is for this reason that I oppose our existing sedition and libel laws; and calls for declaring people persona non grata may be all right in places like Singapore, but I think such blacklists have no place in a country whose national hero was once blacklisted on the basis of his writings.

And it for related reasons that I opposed demands for Justice Cruz or Malou Fernandez to resign: it would have been a kind of censorship.

At the same time, every reader has a right, indeed, a duty to react to anything that a writer puts forward and with which the reader disagrees. And, if the writer and his publisher are dependent on the public for their livelihood, the public has a right to take its business elsewhere if its objections remain unheeded by writer and publisher.

Now, with regards to Chip Tsao’s piece, I approached his piece with these questions in mind.

Was he presenting his own opinions, or was he writing a satirical piece? There is a difference between writing, “I, Chip Tsao, think the Philippines is a nation of servants,” and putting those words in someone’s mouth for effect, which is what satire is. It seemed to me that what he was trying to do, is to put on paper what you or I might do when making fun of someone by assuming the character of an exaggerated blowhard. This assumes, of course, that the reader knows he does this on a regular basis; a flawed assumption as it turned out (would it have been different if every single statement that caused Filipinos offense, was attributed to a fictional character who employed a Filipina? Perhaps; it might also have given Tsao a way out).

Was the point of the piece to slander Filipinos or to take Tsao’s fellow Chinese to task? I thought that his main purpose was to paint a highly unflattering picture of his fellow Chinese as cowardly chauvinists who wouldn’t dare tangle with anyone except the Filipinos, and only because the Filipinos happened to be in a financially dependent situation. Chip Tsao in blowhard mode, doesn’t dare question the Russians but happily picks on Filipinos, as do all his household-help-employing Chinese chums. The picture he paints of these employers is a disgraceful one: they have no problems with underpaying and overworking Filipinos, and then they castigate them for daring to assert their country’s sovereignty; the treatment he describes is fully in keeping with the brainwashing and bullying the Chinese themselves endured during Mao’s Cultural Revolution.

The whole thing is an indictment of the false sense of superiority of modern-day, wealthy Chinese, who forget, not so long ago, “No dogs and Chinese” signs were posted in Hong Kong (similar signs were posted in Manila), that once upon a time the Chinese provided coolie labor for the world, and that poverty was endemic in Hong Kong and all of China not so long ago, either.

I don’t know if I’d go as far as Indolent Indio, who says Tsao’s on our side; I would definitely go as far as to point out his primary target was his fellow Chinese; that he took them to task for acting like the kind of arrogant Western colonizers the Chinese used to hate; and what’s worse, they’re being prejudiced to fellow Asians while the Chinese remain meek in the face of say, the Russians. What I think happened was that he failed to consider that not everyone would consider his portrayal of a Filipina as either warranted or permissible. Connie Veneracion, pointing to this piece, doesn’t think Tsao holds Filipinos in affection; I think the most he did was simply to make a nod at the wretched working conditions of many Filipinos but that from first to last, the main focus of his attentions -because they are also his readers- are his fellow Chinese.

But this was the root of my folly: to step into his shoes, to the extent that what took over was a feeling of solidarity as a writer, forgetting my first duty to always uphold solidarity with my countrymen. In the end, much as I happen to feel positive about anyone who dares to challenge his fellow Chinese and their monolithic, increasingly aggressive state, that is Tsao’s fight and not mine.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Australian Ignorance – What a load of CRAP!

By DJ Mojo Jojo


This is my first post on Dona Victorina...


To be honest, I've been a lurker of the blog for the longest time and have talked about many of the topics posted in the forums on my Manila morning radio program with Mo Twister and Grace Lee (Good Times on Magic 89.9 http://www.magic899.fm/).

This time, instead of borrowing content from Dona Victorina, I just had to share a bit of news with the blog and post it here as it really got my goat.
In a news item discussed by Mo on our show, I was appalled to learn how ignorant some people can be.

In Australia, an OFW (Overseas Filipino Worker) was fired from his job for not using toilet paper. (For those of you who may not be familiar, many Filipinos use water to clean themselves after using the toilet... google the word “tabo” and you'll know what I'm talking about.) I'm sure this is a common practice in other countries as well, but from a Western viewpoint the idea may seem all too unfamiliar to say the least. However uncommon as it may seem to some... having a "tabo" taboo would just be plain ridiculous to many others!

Below I've pasted the original story where we got this news item and the details of the incident are discussed there fully.

Now I'm not making generalizations here and saying that people from Australia (or any other nation in its entirety for that matter are totally ignorant)... the Australian boss(es) responsible for firing the OFW is the ignoramus I would like to call out.

It's not a first world vs third world issue. It's not a race vs race issue. What it is is a toilet paper vs “TABO” issue!

Not too long ago, some ignorant people in Canada found it inappropriate for children to eat with a spoon and fork (which is a Filipino custom) as opposed to the “traditional” knife and fork method. Now, in the Land Down Under there are even more ignorant people telling others what people should and should not use to clean their asses?!

What is this world coming to?

No matter what country you're in, can't we all just get along and stop the closed-mindedness that is so surprisingly prevalent in this world? Or in other words: “Please cut the CRAP and let us get on with our lives by acknowledging that YES there are others who are different from me, and YES there is more than just one way to get the same things done."

Toilet Paper or Tabo ... as long as you take care of your personal hygiene, that's fine by me!

* * * * * * *

Amador Bernabe fired for 'un-Australian toilet habits'

A MAN who uses water instead of toilet paper says he was sacked for his "un-Australian" toilet habits.

Amador Bernabe, 43, is a machine operator in Townsville on a working visa from the Philippines, the Townsville Bulletin reports.

On Thursday, he claims his foreman followed him into the bathrooms questioning his toilet hygiene.

Mr Bernabe said his employer, Townsville Engineering Industries (TEI), sacked him yesterday for not going to the toilet the Australian way.

"I went to go to the toilet and I took a bottle of water when my foreman saw me and he said, 'you can't bring the water in there'," Mr Bernabe said.

The foreman followed Mr Bernabe into the toilet despite his protests.

"I said it's my personal hygiene. I didn't break any law, I didn't break any rules of the company, why can't I do this, and he said he would report me to the manager.

The next day, Mr Bernabe says he was called into the manager's office.

"He asked me what had happened and I explained to him and he said if I didn't follow the Australian way I would be immediately terminated and I said 'sir, then you better terminate me'."

The move has angered union bosses and politicians on the Australia Day weekend.
Australian Manufacturing Worker's Union state organiser
Rick Finch said the incident was shocking.

"I think it is atrocious, an invasion of a person's rights and cultural beliefs," he said.
"If it wasn't so disgusting it would almost be laughable."

Greens spokeswoman Jenny Stirling praised Mr Bernabe for standing up for his rights.

"I commend the man for standing up for himself and I encourage the employer to have further talks with the union and the employee and I am sure commonsense will prevail," she said.

"I would like to see how Australians feel when they go to Europe where in places they don't have toilet paper."

TEI could not be reached for comment.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

An "ecstatic" Lifestyle of Media



Amiel Aguilar Cabanlig

For more than a decade, print media has done great disservice by bombarding the youth with iniquitous mantras that may have contributed to the new drug culture. Let me tell you straight up, words written in print are potent. And words like, “partying guiltless... Smart Addict (endorsed by Tim Yap, Borgy Manotoc etc) ... party animal... party till you drop... prince of partydom.... and pop those pills” will sooner or later take their toll on today's young people. Just last month the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s lifestyle section displayed high-profile paparazzi shots of the “Alabang Boys” partying in Club Warehouse. Examples like these via PRINT MEDIA has greatly shaped the “drug culture” of the youth.

A 2004 Dangerous Drugs Board survey found 6.7 million drug users in the country.

A few months ago anti-narcotics agents and their K-9 units checked every corner of the Embassy bar. Drug-sniffing dogs were also placed at the club entrance. A special agent, who I knew, also showed me new types of ecstasy available in the market. The “PDEA” according to him, is “dead serious” about the rising drug problem in BARS. The Embassy gained “notoriety” after a series of squabbles and scandals involving socialites and well-known personalities took place within the bar's premises. Print and television have also been monitoring the bars activities. Ever since the "Gucci Gang" fiasco exploded, "people have become more aware" according to one of the club's regulars.

Richard Brodett, Jorge Joseph and Joseph Tecson are the highest profile drug suspects to be arrested by the PDEA after a season in which a number of drug lords, got away thanks to some influential politicians. The drug entrapment took place inside snooty Ayala Alabang Village. A PDEA agent was attempting to buy drugs from Joseph who was allegedly assisted by Brodett- but sensing the setup tried to speed away. PDEA agents gave chase, firing about seven shots but miraculously Brodett ducked the bullets.

Tony Lopez of the Manila Times says “The boys are said to be scions of influential, if not hugely wealthy parents, relatives and backers. A parent of one of the Alabang suspects is supposed to be behind a lucrative government contract having to do with running (not of humans).” Drug Czar Gen. Dionisio Santiago says, “These boys have been described as salot [curse] by families of their victims.” Santiago also hints at possible links of the boys to international drug syndicates. The father of one of the boys, Johnny Joseph, Johnny Midnight, has gone on a media offensive. His son, he admits, “is a social user but not an addict. It’s no big deal.” To which General Santiago counters: “If I kill someone, can I say that I am just a social murderer?”

Dionisio Santiago has a 37-year military career and is a former chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and director of the National Penitentiary. Santiago is known to be stubborn, which is often how he gets things done. When Gloria Arroyo named him PDEA chief in April 2006, her instructions to Santiago were: “Get back to work.”

Let us support PDEA!

Saturday, January 10, 2009

A FESTiVAL OF IMPRESSIVE MOVIE (TITLES)


(We ask Andro Ramirez to review the Metro Manila Film Festival 2008. Aside from one or two surprises, he found everything predictable (translate: ho hum), but he found the titles politically appropriate.)


by Andro Ramirez
Head writer: Media Advocacy

(A warning: This is not a detailed film review of the entries. I am a self-confessed movie junkie like my friend JC Bishop who is now based in the U.S. But unlike him, whose taste is mostly Philippine and American made movies, I include European, Bollywood, and other Asian fares as part of my interests. It was our tradition when he was still here to literally spend the rest of the MMFF week to watch all entries and debate on them after. This year however, I am by my lonesome.)

The 2008 MMFF started off and ended without any of the controversies it faced in previous years, when problems and setbacks started from the selection process to the end of the awarding ceremonies, a “tradition” in itself in the festival’s 34 year history. Most notorious of these is the 1994 MMFF “take it, take it”, envelope switching during the awards night involving Viveka Babajee and Rocky Gutierrez, as masterminded by Lolit Solis.


This year’s MMFF scores a first with DAYO, the first full-length digital in its official list of entries. It’s not that polished but enjoyable nonetheless. Not to mention Lea Salonga’s poignant rendition of the movie’s theme song Lipad. Sadly, it failed to take flight -- earning only P 4.1M gross as of January 2, 2009 against its touted $1.3M budget. At least it did not come in last; Magkaibigan earned only P 1.6 M despite having big stars.




Here is the official list of MMFF 2008 Box Office Gross as of January 2, 2009

1. Ang Tanging Ina N’yong Lahat - 102.5M
2. Iskul Bukol… 20 Years After - 72.6M
3. Shake Rattle and Roll X - 45.7M
4. Desperadas 2 - 27.3M
5. Baler - 24.5M
6. One Night Only - 5.7M
7. Dayo - 4.1M
8. Magkaibigan - 1.6M

(Source: National Cinema Association of the Philippines)

No surprise Ang Tanging Ina N’yong Lahat earned the highest gross since the original version was highly enjoyable: playing on the misadventures of Ina Montecillo (Ai-Ai de las Alas), her children, and Rowena (Eugene Domingo) and incorporating famous lines from other movies in a comical fashion, which surprisingly works although it is an overly used formula. Was it coincidental or intentional that the writers of the film chose to play with the political angle this time around? Funny, but to borrow Professional Heckler’s tagline: The problem with political jokes is they get elected. How very true. If this is real life, I can’t blame Mar Roxas for his cuss in that Ayala rally which sounded like this movie title. Now that the movie is a box office hit, will there be a part 2 of that episode?





It is not also surprising that the biggest earners this year, as in the previous, are comedy films. People are already fed up with the harsh realities affecting each and everyone on a daily basis. They need a release of tension in spite of the P120 to P150 price of admission.


If I can have my way, I would gladly Shake, Rattle and Roll all erring member of the three branches of our government ten times so that they will wake up to the reality that they are not the only Filipinos in the Philippines. Most of us are out here suffering while they are there protecting their own interests and a barangay of thieves and liars.

More than 20 Years After the first people power revolution, Wanbol University is run better than our government. This early, allies of the palace by the polluted river are contemplating which would be suitable for them --- a con-con or a con-ass. Ang Tanging Ina N’yong Lahat indeed. Let it rest will you. Some of these politicians sure are Iskulled but what do they dish out on us? Nothing but Bukol. Which leaves us all being Desperados and Desperadas, and as Susan Roces puts it: Not once but twice.

The Philippine political scene is really in a mess and only those who are Magkaibigan benefit from the country’s coffers. Frightening that these same people will want to get their way on the threat of reciting their line of “Kilala mo ba ako?” The only amiable personality I know who recited that line is the late Lourdes Carvajal aka Inday Badiday. Not even the Diyosa of Baler with her first acting trophy will save you from being mauled in a plush golf course by a father and son tandem. It doesn’t matter if they are Dayo’s in Luzon from their native Mindanao. The thing is they are considered as Demigods in their province of origin. I say, go back home and stay there. All I ask from God at this point is for the Philippines to have a moral awakening starting this 2009. One Night Only is all I ask for all to realize that we are all part of one machine. It is about the right time to discard all those malfunctioning parts for it to continue working.

Who knows, if we are successful in our overhaul, next year’s MMFF might feature more realistic and truly artsy films that will not only sell commercially, but also add to a level of consciousness that may make us think and re-think a better future for us all.