The Filipino cannot die

I am not among the thousands of fan following Mr. Willie Revillame seems to enjoy. But, do not get me wrong. There is nothing derogatory to this statement than the fact that his kind of television shows does not attract me the way many are magnetized to them. So, quite naturally, I choose not to waste my time watching his productions. With no offense meant, I would rather listen to John Gary on my antiquated record player. Thus, when a case was reportedly filed against Mr. Revillame apparently stemming from a segment of his televised programs that his detractors considered actionable, I just did not give it a hoot. I thought that the brouhaha over the case would soon fade away.

But, when a government agency indicted Mr. Revillame for practically the same offense private complainants earlier complained of, I sat up not so much as to witness the case move on but to take a peripheral look at what it was all about. Why is the government actively taking part? To show that it was not the proxy war between tv companies that I earlier perceived? Or have we, as a people, suddenly become conscious of the continuing desecration of our sense of values and decided to stand for what is right. 

I have written it, time and again, that I am an incorrigible optimist. When the DSWD joined the Revillame fray, this administration might be trying its best to demonstrate how to right some wrongs and follow the straight path. Wow! P-noy ha!

If that was the case, I like to put premium to this move of government. Certainly, the filing of this Revillame must signal the drive of government regulatory agencies to scrutinize not just undesirable shows. Most importantly, they should carefully check and ban misleading commercial advertisements.

I refer to those tv food supplement and health care plugs whose collective message has the probable tendency to mislead viewers. There are many of them and they are aired repeatedly at prime time. I shall not name them here because in so doing, I am bound to miss some. With such failure, I may be accused of singling out for public condemnation a product I may have identified or of secretly endorsing those I fail to name. It’s a case of tails I lose, heads you win.

Even if I refuse to remind you of some products, we don’t miss them really on the boob tube. There are products advertised as curing someone of cancer or diabetes etc. Testimonials are their vehicle. People, admitting to be sick with this or that ailment, now claim to be free of such disease after taking some dosage of such and such product. To add weight to their useless claims, they would say that their doctors would confirm their bliss.

Companies advertising their food supplements use testimonials because this method carries with it a built in a legal excuse. They cannot be prosecuted for false advertising. After all, a man’s claim that he is cured of any disease because he took this or that product is not actionable. That is his personal belief and no man can be jailed for his belief no matter how crazy it may be.

To drive home my point, I tried to get a medical practitioner to comment on this thing. He would not. But, when I declared that the Filipino cannot die, I squeezed from him his position. I told him that if the Filipino will take all those products advertised on radio and television by companies as curing such dreaded as cancer, diabetes and a host of other ailments, how can he die?

It was at this point that my doctor friend said that the claims of these products are not medically proven. In other words, there is no truth to the advertisement plugs of these companies. If there were the case, why allow them on air?

So, if the DSWD intervened in the seemingly private Revillame case, it may be a good time to ask the BFAD, the Department of Health and all concerned government agencies to do everything to prevent the continued airing of food supplement commercials.