Of Real-Life Crooks and Villains
Photo courtesy of the Philippine Star
While the Senate court is busy doing the usual impeachment proceedings, someone from the Congress has made a noise once again but this time, it has nothing to do with CJ Corona or any of his secret bank accounts.
I’m talking about Rep. Aurelio Gonzales of Pampanga’s third district who recently filed a House Resolution 2140, seeking to develop a major overhaul in the image of reputable congressmen and congresswomen who have been typecasted by local movies and television programs as “crooks”, “villains” and “corrupt”. The idea sounds awful and shocking, to say the least, but did it ever occur to Gonzales that such resolution might just be preconceived as a stupid way to cover up reality? Seriously, this resolution doesn’t get the whole point.
House Resolution 2140 wants to suggest that it is:
“expressing the sense of the House of Representatives to appeal to the local TV and movie industry to minimize, prevent, or stop typecasting congressmen and congresswomen as villains or crooks in movies and television telenovelas, in order not to create stereotypes or negative public perception against members of the House of Representatives,”
It also adds that:
“Whereas, as the people’s representatives, majority of the congressmen and congresswomen do their best to bring excellent public service to their constituents; Whereas, there have been a few congressmen who may have been involved in crimes but these are the exceptions, rather than the rule; Whereas despite the good deeds done by many, congresspersons are often portrayed as villains in movies and telenovelas; Whereas, these portrayals are unfair and at the very least, sully the good name of honorable congressmen and congresswomen who work hard for the welfare of their constituents; Whereas, these negative typecastings influence the general public, especially the young children, into forming a negative impression about the members of the House of Representatives.”
I clearly understand Gonzales’ sentiments regarding this matter because in the first place, creating stereotypes will never be beneficial for any workplace setting especially for those politicians who have done impressive contributions to the society without jeopardizing their clean reputation. However, movies and telenovelas have long been considered an art form by the proponents of this industry and the scenes or characters that are usually depicted in these platforms are more or less a reflection of what happens in real life. Anyone in his right frame of mind doesn’t have the right to put such an unfair restriction in the expression of the truth or any portrait of reality; we are in a democratic country so obviously, freedom of expression must be uphold all the time. But who is the one to blame for this stereotype? Is it the mass media who are allegedly “twisting” the truth to create sensational masterpiece or the likes of Rep. Romeo Jalosjos and Rep. Ronald Singson who significantly left a scar in the already disfigured image of our supposedly dignified solons? The answer is yet to come out but one thing is crystal clear: you can’t stop the public from crafting generalizations if the rampant corruption and abuse of power continue to demonize our lawmakers up to this day.
House Resolution 2140 seems new to the ears but as a matter of fact, this is not the first time that government officials attempted to reconstruct their negative image. Armida Siguion-Reyna, in her opinion piece entitled “The Real Villain”, revealed that PNP twice approached the movie industry for an attempt to save their reputation from an increasing public dismay, but to no avail. The moment this resolution becomes an unexpected success, it will surely create a “domino effect” among the different branches of the government, a nightmare that every Filipino won’t ever dare to think.
We are in a democratic country but sadly, negative attitudes of SOME politicians are slowly ruining the very essence of democracy. For this reason, it’s not fair for these same politicians to rob us of our remaining avenue to express our disappointment and frustration regarding our backward progress. House Resolution 2140 is a selfish attempt by our lawmakers who should responsible for our own welfare in the first place. If they want change then change should start within themselves as well. But like they say, you can’t teach SOME old dogs new tricks so for now, bato-bato sa langit, ang tamaan, MALAMANG GUILTY!
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there are snakes in every forest, so was the Filipino saying, why worry about the negatives, when it serves to warn everybody that no complete saints in every aggrupations? surely somehow one will create it’s bad images as the whisper of the Holy Spirit, so was it’s counterpart the devil.
there are times when the Honorable s becomes dishonorable s as in the impeachment of the Chief Justice if proven, and there is Congressmen involve in rape and gunrunning who were sent to prison, you can not blame the public if they were entertained by these shows, as they represent real life stories don’t. be onion skin your in politics dirt in fact is a reality worst than is assassinations.
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