Dear Ms. Mayuga,
Just read through your column and realized that you do take the time and effort to sieve through e-mails.
First off, thank you - we are small, insignificant people compared to titans of industry, mega-celebrities and the vociferous throng (both the well-heeled and unshod) that trooped to Makati the other day for that (obviously anti-GMA) "Inter-Faith Rally." But we trust that even our small and distant voice will still be heard and, hopefully, considered for whatever it's worth.
As many as 100,000 people have chosen to believe Jun Lozada's "truths." We vehemently choose not to. We believe that he is a wolf in sheep's clothing, exuding an aura of divine protection given no doubt by a phalanx of nuns and a gaggle of Bishops. We believe that he’s lying through his teeth and his eyes simply could not fake it well enough. His dramatic performance was made for the Oscars. Quite ironic, too, that one your e-mail writers complained about seeing the Oscars instead of the Senate hearings on free TV, when they are all made out of the same cloth – That's Entertainment!
And the script stinks so much of the same formulaic offerings that made Sharon Cuneta a household name in the Philippines. There's the evil, bitchy, matapobre contravida (in the very familiar mold of Cherie Gil, Jean Garcia, Princess Punzalan, Pilar Pilapil, Bella Flores) whose only purpose in life, it seems, is to make hambalos the next hampaslupa or patay-gutom that crawls her way. Then there's the lowly bida - Sharon Cuneta, Julie Vega, Janice de Belen, Judy Ann Santos – and, true to form, Erap and FPJ whose on-screen lives have been known to make gapang in the lusak before the inevitable showdown (a la Bituing Walang Ningning a.k.a. "HARAPAN"). Then the gulong ng palad starts working its wonders - to a happily-ever-after final episode where the evil bitch is finally taught the true meaning of "Bukas Luluhod ang mga Tala!"
Sound eerily familiar? It’s all the same vaudeville/telenovela repeated over and over and over again, and everybody's gripped by a powerful tragicomic melodrama horror-sci fi musical (admittedly an almost exclusively Filipino movie genre) unfolding before our very eyes on Primetime News, forced down our throats by a most willing (read: biased) TV network. The stupendous ensemble cast is primped and readied; the dialogues (and monologues) rehearsed to death, the lights on, the cameras rolling - and action!
After all the dust has settled and the smoke cleared, if the television "heroes" are finally victorious, who benefits most from all this? The Filipino people? Philippine Democracy? Our Constitution?
Come to think of it, the only one laughing all the way to the bank would be this gigantic media-utilities empire whose proxy will finally be proclaimed President of the Republic of the Philippines! Talk about baking your cake and eating all of it, too.
If the opposition politicians, the coup plotters, the communists, the students, the clergy, the media and the members of civil society think they're going to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven after shouting their throats hoarse in every street corner and flogging themselves for some divine intervention to rain fire and brimstone over Malacañang, think again. You are all ripe for a rude awakening.
Oh, don't you just love liars? They're sooo...sneaky.
Jaime J. A. Rivera
Jaime J.A. Rivera, a fourth generation member of the Alano Clan of Basilan, is the Secretary General/Executive Director of the Juan S. Alano Corporation in Isabela City. He also belongs to the Basilan Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Inc., with Micro, Small and Medium Entrepreneurs of Basilan “constituting 95% of our membership.” The BCCI is affiliated with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (PCCI) led by the Presidential Adviser Donald Dee.