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What now, Willie Revillame?

Willie Revillame has preempted possible moves by MTRCB to suspend "Willing Willie" by announcing that he is taking a two-week leave to, in his words "pag-iisipan ko po muna nang mabuti kung ako po ay magbabalik pa sa industriyang ito." While he seems to have waved the white flag of surrender to the overwhelming voices of disapproval about the Jan Jan episode, he's still unrepentant and continues to insist that he has done nothing wrong. He even attacked certain entertainment personalities for criticizing him on their Twitter accounts. I was particularly incensed by his message to Aiza Seguerra: "Magpakalalaki ka," which is a reference to her sexual orientation. How is that relevant to the case?

Meanwhile, his lawyers have advanced the preposterous explanation that the six-year-old's number was really "a dance form called 'body wave'…no different from the familiar dance moves we have been accustomed to today." There is, however, one demand that they made to MTRCB that I actually agreed with. They asked the regulatory board to examine other shows with gyrating, scantily clad dancers and kiddie shows that feature children in adult situations.

In previous blogs, I have objected to noontime and other primetime programs with materials that are not suitable for young viewers. I commend Unilever for suspending its placements in "Willing Willie" and "all reality-based live game shows across all networks... until we observe stricter and objective self-regulatory guidelines across networks and proper enforcement by the relevant government agencies of existing content regulations."

This should serve as a wake-up call to the television industry that there are many socially conscious advertisers who will withdraw their support if they perceive that the shows are airing images that are too suggestive for children. With Unilever leading the way, I wouldn't be surprised if other advertisers followed its example.

The Willie Revillame scandal has proven once again the power of the social network to galvanize public opinion and influence decision makers. This would never have happened without YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other websites. The YouTube video, in particular, enabled people who had not watched the live airing to discover the travesty that Willie perpetrated on his show. His lawyers are claiming that the video was edited to make Willie look bad. Assuming this was true, that portion where Jan Jan is hoisted on an elevated platform while Willie egged him on was already objectionable to me.

The MTRCB is the proper government agency that can punish the show but the agency took its own sweet time. Under PD 1986 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations, Chairman Grace Llamanzares-Poe can actually issue a preventive suspension order of up to 20 days while an adjudication committee investigates an incident if she determines that a show has committed a serious infraction.

However, as in previous cases, this may have been a fruitless suspension because the networks have often succeeded in getting a temporary restraining order from the courts.

What finally did Willie in was the various appeals to advertisers to pull the plug on the show. They are more powerful than MTRCB when it comes to disciplining erring shows.

Will Willie now revive his previous threat to ask his supporters to boycott the products of sponsors who pull out of the show? He probably realized the folly of such a suggestion and has remained silent on the matter. Does he really expect his followers to stop using the products of Procter and Gamble and Unilever, who manufacture basic necessities of consumers like food, soap, shampoo and other products?

Now Willie is saying that he wants to continue with the show even without ads. He claims to have spoken to the TV5 president about such an idea. I wonder though if Manny Pangilinan will agree considering the damage Willie has done to his network.

If I were Willie, I would take more than two weeks off. I would leave the TV industry altogether and live on my earnings which is quite substantial. He can actually stop working with the kind of money that he has already earned.

Disclaimer:
The views and observations of the author do not represent the position of Yahoo! OMG! Philippines on the issue or topic being discussed.