From a careless whisper (pun intended), the scandal has snowballed and the ensuing furor has exploded inside the halls of the senate.
What’s shocking is that this hugged the headlines more than anything else.
More than the spread of H1N1 in the Philippines (as I write this, we now have 10 confirmed cases). Considering that school starts in a week, we ought to have stepped up measures to prevent the spread of the flu. Will we wait until someone famous catches the virus before this becomes a top story?
More than the victory of Brillante Mendoza (Kinatay) who was given Best Director citations in the recent Cannes, the most prestigious film festival in the world. He bested perennial favourites including Quentin Tarantino and Ang Lee. This is something we could have been proud of.
More than the tragic sinking of a passenger vessel off the coast of Mindoro. My sister texted me this sad news last Saturday; turned out some of the victims are from their company. The stories were horrifying and heart-rending. There was a family who about to have their first vacation but have now lost their 3-year old son, grandmother and yaya. What could have been summer fun has now turned into a bitter memory. There were accounts that two boats passed by the ill-fated boat but offered no help. Instead, the passengers of that boat just took pictures. And when some boats did arrive to help, they attended to the victim’s possessions (bags) first. Holy shit!
That 12 lives will be lost in a sea tragedy under clear blue skies and normal waters is a bigger scandal. Yet the victims were not given the attention that could have given rhyme and reason to their senseless deaths. Because they are not celebrities. Similar to that presidential chopper which crashed and killed every one onboard and the lesser known helicopter crash of a nameless company. Guess who received more media attention?
Back to that famous sex scandal, a squeaky clean (sic) senator is condemning the act, as if he is an adorable preacher. As if his kids have not been experimenting with fornication before they even came of legal age. Now we now that the election is not far away. Because the circus has started.
Only in the Philippines can the "performances" inside the bedrooms of unworthy people become such a national concern (only Belo touches and captivates the nation...tsk, tsk).
And we wonder why we are we are third world.
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