Toni's inconsistencies, Pia's pointless interview - waste of airtime

For the first time I was stressed on my day off last Sunday. I always look forward to my Sundays because watching Showbiz Central and The Buzz are my highest form of entertainment and relaxation, that is of course after hearing mass. But last Sunday, it wasted my time in a major way.

First there was Toni Gonzaga making a big deal of Iya Villania’s 16th place finish in this year’s FHM Sexiest without even posing for the magazine. She elaborated on her amazement by adding that Iya is the "luckiest girl" for such a feat. Why did she declare it in the superlative degree when it’s not even a Top 10 finish? What about Marian Rivera who was declared the sexiest two years ago, who like Iya did not also pose for the magazine?

Really, I’m bothered with Toni’s performance on The Buzz lately. She is inconsistent. I still cannot forget her statement about haters whose opinion can only be read online while hers can be seen on television. And I can still visualize her facial expression when she said, "haters will always be haters" on The Buzz. She looked and sounded arrogant, very different from the image she projects—that of being a bubbly yet wholesome host on Pinoy Big Brother where she became a household name.

But infairness to her, I like her statement when they talked about the girl wanting to be raped by Azkals members and her point about having no need to aspire to be the next Boy Abunda or Regine Velasquez but just being yourself, during the P.O.V.(Points, Opinion, Violent reaction) portion. Sometimes Toni delivers a good statement and comes up with a good point, sometimes she doesn’t. That’s why I said she is inconsistent. And I’m really bothered with her lately because her statements on TV and her body language seem to suggest that negative stories about her are true; I’m beginning to believe them all, actually.

So Toni’s interview with Iya started destroying my Sunday pastime. When I switched to Showbiz Central, there was Pia Guanio interviewing Amanda Coling, the alleged victim of Azkals Neil Etheridge, Simon Greatwich, Anton del Rosario and Jason Sabio. I was dumbfounded by the pointless interview---Pia not being able to ask the right questions and Amanda not comprehending the questions at all. Both of them were lost in the interview, definitely a waste of airtime.

Pia failed to establish what the issue was all about. Amanda said she was told by her lawyer to say "no comment" when asked about the Azkals. That she was there to seek justice after she was pulled out from a fashion show after it was learned that she is the girl involved in the Azkal’s controversy. If that was her only desire, she should have filed a complaint instead of being on a showbiz-oriented show and refusing to answer questions about a controversy that has made her a hot item. Sorry to say but Amanda is not articulate and convincing. I pity her. She should have been accompanied by a lawyer or she should have waited for Monday where her camp was to give an official statement about the controversy. It should not have been a live interview but rather should have been just made into a news item. After all, her crying foul on her removal from a fashion show has been reported by Mario Dumaul on TV Patrol days before she got to the SC set last Sunday. Maybe she was forced to be on the show for the sake of rating. That’s really sad if ever that’s the case.

I did not get it. If she was indeed a victim of sexual exploitation or harassment, why did Showbiz Central show her face and why did she allow it? My five years of police beat reporting reminds me it’s basic to hide the identity, much more the face of a victim of rape or sexual exploitation. Then Pia’s co-host applauded her for supposedly handling the interview well. What? Was it really an interview? There was nothing in it. It was like a guessing game, hide and seek extravaganza! I was silently wishing that idol Boy Abunda did the interview on Amanda instead of Pia wasting the story on national TV.

On Tuesday, I was even bothered about this Azkals-Amanda hullaballoo, because her camp said she has no axe to grind against members of the Philippine football team and that she is open to accepting an apology as long as it is sincere. That said, her credibility has been damaged all the more. She should not have granted interviews at all last Sunday. At the same time, I hope and pray, that if indeed she was violated justice will be served and the violators punished.

Speaking of Boy, I don’t understand why he made it appear that the release of J.E. Sison from prison due to an illegal drugs case he got involved in here in Cebu as their biggest story for them to make it as their finale. Sorry but I don’t even remember Sison. What were his projects and movies? Was he a big star before he was jailed here?

Funny because Showbiz Central had a very good material in Amanda but Pia wasted it. The Buzz has Boy Abunda who is the best interviewer (that’s why he is King of Talk), but they did not have an explosive story to match the success of the Mark Gil interview, the Sunday before last. So there goes the story of my wasted-stressful Sunday! A ruined Sunday habit.