Wowwowwee!

Have you ever sat down and seriously watched ABS-CBN’s noontime show entitled "Wowwowwee"? I always watch it whenever I have time. I am not only amused by the game show and its host Willie Revillame but moreso, the snippets of stories the contestants have to share with its audience. The contestants are people from the streets. They are vendors, helpers, drivers, street children, waiters, cooks, singers, dancers, beauticians, etc. Each of them has a story to tell and their stories touch the hearts of the televiewers especially the ones watching from abroad through The Filipino Channel. I know I may sound corny, but the stories of these folks really make us cry and sympathize with them.

This show actually exposes how Filipinos are suffering. This show exposes the truth about people. How difficult it is for a person to get a job, how a father tries his best to support his family of 5. How a child has to sacrifice going to school in order to sell sampaguita because his mother is the only one alive. How a child has to go to the show to try her luck in order to help her sister get an operation. How one longs to go back to the province with the money he gets from the show.

Mendicancy? Many people have attacked the show saying it only encourages people to beg. But right now it is the only hope they have. Where else will they turn to? Who else can they turn to? This show brings that ray of sunshine into the lives of the people. It is a sad fact but it’s true. If you carefully look at the behavior of the balikbayans watching the show in the studio, they are all ready to help and give. You can see how good they feel when they are able to share that hard earned money they brought from the US with our poor Pinoy brothers and sisters. When one professes his problems, like having to improve his roof because his home often gets flooded when it rains, a line of balikbayans were all ready to donate money for this person so he can fix his home. When a child narrated the story of her blind sister, the audience cried along and again a line of balikbayans were all ready to help. This show has become a venue for giving and sharing. It has shown to the world how our OFWs and balikbayans truly care about the Filipinos… That they sympathize with their poor brothers and sisters… the long lost culture of bayanihan in this modern day and age still exists and lingers in the hearts of every Filipino.

If you are against such a show that gives us happiness, joy and laughter even for a moment, then, you are such a "grinch". We wouldn’t have this much beggars in the streets if our government system works. Unfortunately, there has been something wrong with the system for almost 50 years now and no hero has been able to change it. What a shame. All have been building their empires with the people’s money and no one has had the courage to come to the rescue.

The participants going to the show would not be acting like beggars if our public facilities such as hospitals, schools, department of social welfare, public housing, senior citizen care, etc. were all working. The problem is that no one dares to dip their feet into the system to straighten it up. Once elected into office, it becomes a show. No serious work in done except for a few exceptional cases.

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The Opposition Party has filed another bill to impeach the President. Enough of that, why not improve your own districts and work? Do you know you are working for the people and you are spending our tax money as well? Why not work on your own districts and build them? Show the nation how good you are and how you can lead. Stop yakking on TV, Congressman Francis Escudero. Show the nation how good you are as a leader. Show us how you can build Sorsogon. By doing this, we gain more respect toward you as a public servant instead of a spokesperson.

Where is Mr. Palengke? Have you checked the markets lately? According to my daga you just go to the markets during campaign season. Aren’t you suppose to be our hero to clean and put the markets in order? Have you visited Chatuchak Market in Bangkok, Thailand? Well, if you can get our markets to be as clean, organized and free from flies, then you are truly the people’s champ!

I ask the wives of the Senators, Congressmen, Mayors and other government officials to go to their local markets. Remember, the food you eat on your dining table come from these markets which are not kept clean. Make it your project to help improve it. It is fun to go to the marketplace and meet the simple folks out there especially when it is kept clean. This is the least you can do for the people who have voted for you. Leaving the work to the local barangay is not enough. They will not get the work done.

When your maids or drivers are sick, have you taken them yourselves to the public hospital to check on the conditions of the environment? I challenge you to check these hospitals out. Surely, you will not even take your children out there. So, just because you can afford the expensive private hospitals, no one will look into the improvement of the hospitals for the people? The Secretary of Health will not be able to do this alone – he needs your help!

A public servant who is sincere to his or her calling has a natural glow that shows accomplishment in his or her face. There is this inner satisfaction of a fulfilled dream not overtaken by pride or power but of humility and wisdom. Just like Willie Revillame and the balikbayans in the show, they have an aura of contentment as they feel good from knowing they have done something good to help others!