Survey: Would you support a Boycott on Advertisers?

I am conducting an informal survey.

I want to know if people would support a boycott of businesses and products who place their advertisements on media entities and programs that play partisan politics.

I would also like to know if people would support a boycott of the same businesses and products who place their ads on programs that glorifies distorted values as if they are normal and "realities" (such as ABS-CBN's Pinoy Big Brother).

For the millions of readers of this blog, what do you think?

And if you want to help this country, even by a bit, would you ask the same questions to your online friends?

Warning to Advertisers on DZMM

I dare say that the ABS-CBN radio station (if not the whole media entity) is working versus PGMA and for the opposition. They are not there to give us the news but to slant the news to what they want to happen. They want PGMA's fall and they seem to have allied themselves with Erap forces.

This is brazenly wrong. Media should be an entity to cover the news, not the one to create them. They should present a critical eye to both sides, not engage in partisan politics. Allying themselves with Erap forces is unfair to the people. This is the height of media corruption and malice.

I think DZMM is the media arm of yesterday's moves versus PGMA. Early in the morning, DZMM has exclusive interviews of Erap (who unknown to many, is in San Juan Medical Center), and his sons Jinggoy and JV. While all the other radio stations are covering the event unfolding in the EDSA shrine, the people power monument (also in EDSA), camp aguinaldo, and other military camps, DZMM is reporting that people are massing to San Juan Medical to protect the ERAP (to protect from what is unclear).

I especially took note of their reporter Anthony Taberna who is usually right in place where the opposition wanted their propaganda spread. Yesterday, he is right where ERAP is who is saying among others: that he is "ready to die" just to stay at the hospital! Indeed, martyrdom, is what Erap through DZMM, is trying to project. Incidentaly, we could remember that Mr. Taberna is also with Samuel Ong, exclusively, when the later was holed up in Guadalupe to supposedly present the "Mother of all (Garci) tapes". Taberna is also the first one to air the same Garci-tapes on DZMM.

At around 7AM, DZMM's Ted Failon had another exclusive with Erap who is senselessly repeating this martyrdom rethoric. Indeed he is ready to die for the people, especially when he is sure that that would not happen for no one would actually care!

Meanwhile, another DZMM personality, Mr. Vic Lima is also reporting slanted news. Yesterday, there is a time when he reported about the growing mass of people at EDSA, during Tina Monzon Palma's time where he refused to answer Tina's clarificatory questions, pretending not to hear them.

Mr. Taberna, Lima and Failon consistently give out false information about what is happening. They tend to say to the people that there is a call for people power in San Juan Medical Center, but indirectly so. They give too much airtime to non-sense from ERAP and JV Ejercito. They lash out freely yet indirectly at PGMA while holding any lashing versus Erap. They are clearly working for the latter, which I noticed started at the same time when Ted Failon started praying and using God's words in his morning programs.

During People Power 2, this personalities and their radio station did not side with the rallyists. This time, they are siding with whoever is against PGMA.

And Malacanang knew about this. PGMA's declaration of state of national emergency among others intend to warn media entities such as DZMM to stop whatever propaganda they plan to do.

I think that ABS-CBN is doing a disservice to the Filipino people. I am sure businesses do not want to play politics especially at this time of divisiveness. Would the likes of Procter and Gamble, Coca-cola, Unilever and the other multinationals knowingly put their funds on people and media entities who work for the down-fall of a government? I think not.

Hence, I would like to call on big advertisers to avoid advertising with DZMM (and in ABS-CBN), especially in the programs of Taberna, Lima and Failon. This is the only way to stop this propagandists: by taking a hold on where their money comes from. If the advertisers are not to heed this call, then I think people must boycott those companies.

I think it is time for the consumers to use their power over advertisers and businesseses for what is right, to control the media, and chart the future of this country.

CNN had it wrong

CNN's coverage of yesterday's events are dismaying.

Their report seemed to indicate that the Filipino people went to the streets to protest PGMA's declaration of the national state of emergency. The truth is the reverse, and we all know it: PGMA declared the state of emergency to prevent another people power that could topple her this time.

But there are some things that CNN had right... that the Philippines remains the "laggard of Asia" and that we are too long "politically adrift".

I wonder how wrong CNN was in their news, especially about Iraq?

All that Mud

It is sad that we are in the world news headlines again due to bad news. Death, possiby of thousands of Filipinos due to a landslide in Leyte, are reported by CNN round the clock and is headline on Yahoo.

Easily, we can point an accusing finger on illegal (even legal) loggers for these deaths. Leyte has been a victim of so much logging and so many cases of deaths from landslides in very recent history (I still cannot forget the images of dead people stacked like garbage on trucks from Ormoc in 1991).

However, there is still one more pathetic thing we could note from this tragedy. While local TV and radio stations are reporting the tragic events in Leyte during their regular news programs side by side with the usual fare in local media - showbiz and political non-sense (note that lcoal media gave more coverage to the Ultra tragedy than this one, yet), while CNN is covering Leyte and the weather in that area round-the-clock.

Hello? Have we lost sense of what is important? Are the people in Leyte not in the hearts and minds of the rest of the people of the country? Of course not. But media seem to have lost their senses. They give us pop-corn and candies in the guise of reality shows and current events. Meanwhile, the hard truths and real realities are minimally regarded.

Six Reasons why PGMA is still President: Reason #5

Reason #5: No Coup

Another reason why PGMA is still in Malacanang is because no one has staged a Coup d'etat.

I may sound a bit redundant here, but I actually am not. Well, yes.., you can say that.. of course there is no coup, because of the previous 4 other reasons... there are no clear alternatives and people are leaderless and are wont to support such as coup.

But a Coup can be staged even without the people's support. To stage such an "adventure", as others call it, all you need is the support of some key elements in the military. I am not sure what or who those elements are nor do I pretend to know them. But what I am sure though is how everyone is unsure as to what would happen after a Coup!

There are two possible scenarios after staging a successful Coup d'etat. One is that people would support it because its there already and they do not want PGMA in power anyway. But of course this will depend on what the plotters would do after the Coup, and which I think the would-be plotters themselves also do not know yet. On the other end is the scenario that people will outrightly reject it, with the prodding of some leaders - for example from the church leaders, on grounds of unconstitutionality. As we can now see, a coup could be staged but the support of the people should still be won eventually.

And that is the main reason why no one is attempting a coup: they are not sure of what would happen next. I am keen to say that plotting a coup is a very huge risk, and there are just no risk-takers in the military. Or perhaps, as the administration says, the military are professional soldiers and follow the chain of command, even if there chief has already squandered her credibility?

Six Reasons Why GMA is still President: Reason #4

Reason #4: Corruption is Systemic

One sad thing about our country is that corruption has become systemic such that nobody can really define what it is anymore. Yes, we know corruption when we see it in others, but not in ourselves.

I had the chance to talk separately to some middle executives of three different government agencies, and I was dumbfounded at how they actually abhor corruption that is happening in the Philippines. They know what is wrong with all the other government agencies and what to do with them but they do not admit there is corruption happening at where they work. Amazingly, they even thought that they were never part of any corruption and they are in fact working to stop it. Had they not been working for their government agency, corruption would have been worse and we all end up killing each other. I am so taken by them that I almost forgot I was talking with these middle level executives from GSIS, NPC and a City Government in Metro Manila - places where we all know corruption is taking place.

I call this the Cesar Virata syndrome. This is when the ELITE, the well-educated people, people who we can all look up to, and people who think they are doing the right things, are helping government in whatever way they can except stopping corruption (we can remember that Cesar Virata is the finance secretary during Marcos' time whom everyone thinks is doing a good job at his post while tolerating Marcos' excesses).

Unfortunately, these well-educated people are the main part of the Philippines' leadership, and they do not see that in order to stop corruption, they must fight against it. On the other hand, they thought that in order for the country to move forward, they must work "with" corruption. And because they think they are in the right track, they thought they are our knights in shining armor, protecting us from further harm. But what I actually think of them are just spineless yet well connected creatures.

PGMA is of this ilk. She thinks she did us a favor by cheating in elections. People around her thinks the same way too. The well meaning leadership of the country, even many in media and well meaning religious leaders thought that they all saved us from our sure downfall by letting PGMA and her cohorts cheat. Many senators and congressmen, department secretaries and military officials, even FVR... these people will tolerate and even be involved in corruption and perhaps some sometimes even in criminal activities, for what they think is better for everyone. (Of course they are wrong).

And for that reason PGMA is still president.

The poor being used for entertainment and marketing

I am sure nobody wanted for this accident to happen. Last Saturday's Ultra Stampede is tragic, moreso because the victims were there to try their luck on a TV game show, but they met tragedy instead.

Obviously, ABS-CBN did not prepare well for the event. They are not prepared for crowd management and control. For that, they are liable for the death of at least 70 persons and for the lives of those who are injured and who suffered the trauma of the event. It seems at least at this point they are owning up to the financial responsibility, i.e. they are providing monetary support to the victims.

ABS-CBN has been staging Wowowee and other similar programs for so long now, yet they came in unprepared. It is like they have been driving a car everyday and not any untoward incident happened, until they met an accident and they do not even have seatbelts installed. Since no one is regulating the crowd management capabilities of event makers/stagers, nobody told ABS-CBN to install seatbelts.

The tragic result could have been avoided had someone from government or from ABS-CBN actually looked out for the welfare of the people. Had ABS-CBN treated their fans with better respect and dignity, those crowds would not have even been there in the first place. But no. ABS-CBN wanted those people lining up there. They want to celebrate the news that there are people lining up at the Ultra since 3 or 5 days earlier than the scheduled event. This is because it is part of their marketing. They want to bring in more excitement. They want to show throngs of fans on TV, and add the drama of how lucky these poor people are for just even being able to have a seat at the Ultra. Yes, they use the poor for entertainment and marketing.

It is not only ABS-CBN who has been doing this. Its competing station, GMA7 has staged similar events and used poor people to build on more people although the latter did that little less so and more discreet. But politicians are doing this a lot. PGMA, Erap and even FPJ are all equally guilty. They are masters of mob creation. Even El Shaddai and JIL have continiously done this. Although I have heard that El Shaddai are better prepared (they have ambulances and help stations on standby when they stage an event), they are equally guilty and liable for building or even just tolerating this culture of mob creation by our leaders.

And even after the tragedy, ABS-CBN did not pause to reflect on what it has done. At this very moment, they still guiltlessly use celebrity and drama to draw people to their side of things. Even only one day after the tragedy, they led everyone to pray to God for the victims, then went on to stage and hype another shamelessly valueless program: The Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition - a program that distorts its less educated viewers' values.

We all know where this media entity is leading the nation. I urge advertisers not to support them. But I am just a voice in the wilderness and no one could hear me.