Now beyond the news, my fearless forecast is that just before the 2007 election, if President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Speaker Joe de Venecia’s Charter change railroad will be derailed, oppositionists Noynoy Aquino or Mar Roxas might just stage a high-profile wedding that will help boost their mass popularity. Even the most dour-looking Prince Charles of Britain became popular overnight immediately after marrying Princess Diana. On the other hand, ex-Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim failed to boost his electoral chances versus Joseph Estrada when the former wasn’t able to court and marry ex-President Cory C. Aquino just before the 1998 election, despite all the buzz.
I attended the September 12 Cosmopolitan magazine’s "Bachelors Bash," mistakenly thinking it was Summit Media boss Lisa Gokongwei-Cheng’s mischief of a party for a bachelor just before his wedding. However, I was flabbergasted to belatedly realize that it was the opposite. It was a female-dominated all-night event in the Philippine Trade Training Center showcasing eligible bachelors on stage! Whew, I’ve never seen so many screaming girls assembled in one place!
Allow me to tell Lisa that her hardworking Cosmo editors and writers missed out on two of the country’s truly most eligible bachelors, whose wedding would surely make it to the headlines of our TV’s nagbabagang balita – Tarlac Congressman Benigno "Noynoy" Cojuangco Aquino III and Senator Manuel "Mar" Araneta Roxas III.
As a postscript to the Cosmo Bachelors Bash and in view of the vast Hacienda Luisita/Araneta Center Cubao fortunes of our republic’s two most eligible bachelors, my unsolicited advice to President GMA to help shore up the government’s budget comes from writer Oscar Wilde, who once said: "Bachelors should be heavily taxed. It is not fair that some men should be happier than others." Amen!!!
I’m for vibrant press freedom and for the airing of contrary political views, but please minimize the daily pollution of gutter news! Why devote valuable TV air time dredging up silly minor events such as a neighbor bloodied by his wife’s jealous punches, a street thug’s petty crime against Aling Gloria in the wet market creating a commotion amongst the putrid fish and the live chickens, or a bold starlet’s hair-pulling stunt versus a rival sexy starlet at a bar over an idiotic remark, or two drunk male models in a senseless juvenile quarrel or other similar sordid non-news! Don’t we have good news, economic development or inspirational stories to report every day?
Reader Jose "Joji" Villaescusa e-mailed: "Mass media should also take a look at the fact that they exert a certain degree of influence in society in general. It doesn’t help of course that all these newscasters are doing their job in a sort of ‘palengkera’ approach to news, acting more like rumor-mongers than newscasters."
Last but not least, I beseech the bosses of GMA-7, ABS-CBN2 and ABC-5 to forge a common agreement to simultaneously launch English-language primetime TV newscasts and not to translate American movies or shows into Tagalog. I could think of no other more powerful educational tool that could uplift the Philippines economically more than television. I’m sure the La Salle-educated Mike Enriquez, Mel Tiangco, U.P. business administration graduate Bernadette Sembrano or Korina Sanchez could immediately shift to English newscasts without difficulty.
If there shall be no reforms in our TV or radio broadcast industry but only the profit motive as its guide, I now hereby threaten to amass a fortune quickly so that I may someday buy or put up a rival TV or radio station to push better English and more positive good news!
I am not anti-Tagalog, but I am more pro-English as a medium of instruction in all schools private or public and as a medium for mass media. Thanks to readers of my previous "Salumpuwit and GMA’s Trangkasong Ibon" column. Thanks for responding to my joke that nagbabagang balita perhaps meant "pneumatic or hot air news" because baga means "lung." It’s amazing that 86 readers from multi-awarded writer Jose "Pete" Lacaba, to overseas Filipinos e-mailed that it means "hot news," since baga also means "live ember" or "live coal."
Thanks also to the many Philippine STAR readers and radio host Tiya Dely Magpayo for enlightening my curiosity on the following Tagalog words – dagitab meaning "electricity or spark or gilded altarpiece" (please note that I prefer using kuryente or elektrisidad); kamputot meaning "Arabian jasmine, shrub and flowers"; and talahulugan meaning "glossary or vocabulary or dictionary" from the words tala meaning "note or list" and kagulugan which means "meaning." Hmmm. Even if the Tagalog purists or ultra-nationalists threaten to throw eggs at me, I’d rather use the more straightforward diksiyonaryo than talahulugan. Maraming salamat po!