Anybody who thinks eliminating superior competition for local entertainment to prosper must be a clown.
In the same vein, anybody who thinks being more pogi should be the lone criterion for people to patronize their movies is wrong. Very wrong. He, too, should be considered a clown.
And so that's how two so-called honorable members of the Senate, both established actors in the local entertainment industry, showed their lack of proper grasp of the issue. They missed the point entirely.
Senator Jinggoy Estrada faced online ridicule after suggesting a ban on Korean telenovelas. He suggested this during the budget hearing of the Film Development Council of the Philippines last week.
"My observation is that when we continue showing Korean telenovelas, what Filipinos idolize are these Koreans, and our Filipino artists lose jobs and income," he was quoted as saying. "So sometimes it enters my mind to ban these telenovelas of foreigners and that our Filipino artists who have talent in acting should be the ones to be shown in our country."
The remarks immediately went viral as netizens heavily weighed in on his comments.
A Twitter user slammed the lawmaker for such a short-sighted and lazy response. He suggested boosting the local entertainment industry instead to produce higher-quality content. Another remarked that Filipinos could promote better quality films and telenovelas without banning other countries' brilliant masterpieces. He suggested that it would be better for the government to support the film industry like what South Korea is doing.
In response to the backlash, Estrada immediately issued a statement saying his remarks "stems from the frustration that while we are only too eager and willing to celebrate South Korea's entertainment industry, we have sadly allowed our own to deteriorate because of the lack of support from the movie-going public."
He also expressed the wish that the zealousness of Filipino fans in patronizing foreign artists can be replicated to support homegrown talents, whom he believes are also world-class.
The reaction of another lawmaker, Robinhood Padilla during the same FDCP hearing, did not help any.
Speaking in the vernacular, he said: "I don't understand the appeal of these K-dramas, because when we look in the mirror, we're clearly more handsome than South Koreans. Our faces haven't been altered by plastic surgery; this nose of mine has been punched many times and it's never gotten fixed."
He supported Estrada by saying that he wants a tariff on imported shows.
Like Estrada, the comment drew a strong rebuff from fans of Korean dramas. Most of them believe it's the quality of their content that turns Pinoys into fans and not solely their looks. Pinoy mediocrity is the problem.
Indeed, we can promote quality Filipino projects by crafting laws that will support the industry. Government support is what we need just like what South Korea is doing.
The sad thing is these two former actors can't accept the fact that Filipino entertainment caters to the baduy and churns out movies and telenovelas for that market.
We're not big Korean drama fans. Neither are we of the local telenovelas. Should, by any stretch of the imagination, these lawmakers succeed in banning foreign competition, we say let's just ban all, including Filipino teleseryes.
These idiotic programs do little to serve Filipino aspirations to become great someday. They would not contribute to transforming the Philippines from a Third to a First World country.
What it really comes down to is whether Filipinos need these sorts of baduy contents. Distractions, such as telenovelas are the last thing our hard-up compatriots need at this time.
If all else fails, we could probably just send in the clowns. They're a much better alternative.
E-mail: mannyangeles27
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