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Patrons of the Poor

The legal camp of Willie Revillame is right in calling on the authorities to checkfor possible moral violations (my term) that similar TV programs may havebeen committing. It is only fair not to single out Mr. Revillame (he even egged on

Aiza Seguerra to speak out about the child exploitation she presumablysuffered from Eat Bulaga before). Yes, the guy is a monster in many ways, andneeds to be condemned. But we cannot look the other way if the likes of Joey deLeon or Rico J. Puno display their soft naughtiness for the whole viewing nationto see.

The public reaction springs from, as usual, some moral sense of what is decentand lewd. Regardless of the intention, the show made it appear that it isacceptable, entertaining even, for a tot to gyrate like a macho dancerbefore acheering audience. That is what makes the case doubly repulsive (in what senseI shall explain later). You cannot blame Willie without blaming the kids parents.And you cannot blame the parents without asking why we (ok, some peopleespecially the audience) tolerate such BS. That the show committed a patent actof child abuse remains to be resolved legally. And that we have to accept, unlesswe are prepared to debate morality till kingdom come.

On another note, let us analyze how Willie defended himself. He was saying thathe never asked the boy to dance in that suggestive manner, and that all hewanted was to bring happiness to the poor. He said something like, wala akongmasamang intensyon, kayo nga ang humarap sa mga tao, bakit, ano banaitulong niyo sa mga mahihirap?

In his tirades, he emphasizes on his generosity towards the poor who line up

everyday to his studio just to have a crack at the financial fortune he danglesevery night. Roughly, he argues that we dont have the right to castigate him ifwe are not helping the poor as much as he does. We did not see him console thefamilies of the 71 victims of the Ultra stampede. We did not see him begLinggit Tan to call off his show on the day of Corys burial. He feels for the poorand for the nation. Thus, lets not be hard on him.

Ha ha. Thats the punchline to this big joke.

If thats the case, lets not blame Henry Sy for turning our cities into a wastelandof SM Malls; he has a scholarship foundation for poor kids. Lets not criticizeManny Pangilinans predatory business strategy; hes helping the country

through several foundations. Lets not embarrass PNoy by citing hungerstatistics; his conditional cash transfer program has helped a lot of poor familiesin Visayas and Mindanao. Lets not jail the rebels who have killed civilians incrossfire; they fight in the name of justice for the poor.

In many cases, citing ones altruism for the poor becomes handy whenever youwant to escape guilt. I can imagine celebrity tax evaders crying harassmentwhile appearing on a fun run for a charity foundation; or ABS-CBN justifying theirnewss bias by being panig sa bayan (better be biased for Noynoy than for hisrivals). This kind of logic is what makes a Cristy Fermin and Boy Abunda possible.

If the game is played this way, who would want to quarrel with a friend of thepoor? Beyond accusing them of hypocrisy, I think the best thing to do is to admit

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that more than our concern for the poor, it is our aesthetic sense that isoffended. . TV programs like Willing Willie do not insult the intelligence of thebakya audience, they insult those who have finer tastes for entertainment. Byall means, let us uphold the nobler pleasures and not apologize for, much lessromanticize, the bakya crowds preferences. Instead of cultivating apatronizing attitude toward the poor, we must reinvent our entertainmentinstitutions and pursue "higher" taste without regard for the class it mightrepresent.