the circus that is the belo brouhaha

I know, I know. It's not a Belo brouhaha, per se. Belo did have a sex video on the streets (it didn't sell well at all) with the infamous Dr. Kho, he of extreme vanity and total lack of morals. But her support of her lover in spite of his utter disrespect to her and other women makes this her brouhaha as well. No wonder they held off the Belo Group's IPO. The reputation is definitely damaging not only to their persons, but also the company Belo, Kho and Halili profited from.

I found out about the scandal in Incheon, Korea when I went there last May. We had a companion from Makati who opened up the topic, and imagine my surprise when the group from Cebu chimed in with their comments. I do not watch these scandal tapes at all, and consider gossip around them sometimes entertaining and mostly shallow, something certainly not to be treated as of nationwide importance (unlike the AH1N1 virus) and the awakening of the Senate circus.

There was even a cartoon strip at the Sun Star Cebu pitting a monster figure (AH1N1) a la King Kong vs the scandal. It was walking down the streets of Cebu looking for victims but it couldn't find any. The streets were deserted. What were the Cebuanos doing? They were all inside, watching the Katrina-Hayden sex tape.

And guess what? The Philippines being one of the countries with confirmed swine flu cases is not the only issue being neglected by the public. Patricia Evangelista wrote in her column:

What is perhaps stunning about the entire Hayden Kho-Katrina Halili scenario is the level of attention it is getting from the national government. The Senate claims an investigation in aid of legislation is vital to ensure that instances like this will not happen again. Senator Revilla, in a GMA7 interview, claims there is no existing law that will hold Kho responsible, with the exception of perhaps a case of child abuse (Revilla says he has unsubstantiated evidence that Kho did film a minor) or civil damages. It is this “toothless” legislation that Revilla wants to change with his playing knight in shining armor, forgetting perhaps that Kho can be held liable under the Violence Against Women and Children Act.

It is difficult to understand why the senators seem to feel the need to waste national funds on pitting Kho and Halili against each other. Kho does not deny his responsibility, Halili has done little but weep and rail, and while the cameras are trained on the tears rolling down her cheek, the Comelec chief approves of a much-questioned automation, a landslide slips completely off the front page, and the GDP dips lower than conservative estimates.

When the story first exploded, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita urged all the women in Dr. Kho’s sex videos to press charges, saying that “anything that is offensive to public morals must be sanctioned,” on the same day brushing off a United Nations report on torture violations in the Philippines. Perhaps rape and strangulation are not offensive compared to a sex video. Allegations of Filipina rapes in Subic did not instigate privilege speeches by Bong Revilla. Charges of torture did not make Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez demand the blacklisting of now Partylist Representative Jovito Palparan.

And this is where morality again walks into the limelight and demurely crosses its legs. All of a sudden every man is a puritan, even the gentlemen of the Senate who “just happened” to view the sex videos. There is suddenly talk again about the evils of sex among the new generation, and a law, authored by Alyas Pogi himself, seeking to “safeguard the interest of the State against the menace” of “pornographic materials” that “disrupt the peace and order of the country.”

Philippine politics is entertaining, yes. We think of it as a joke, true. But it isn't funny at all. How can we attain progress if our government officials focus on getting their faces on national tv, their quips and antics talked about, and their quotes being fodder for sound bites and front pages?

When I went to Incheon, I found out about their New Songdo Island (YeongJong), an island the Korean government is building/creating (reclaiming) out of nowhere to become Asia's top city in the years to come.

New Songdo will have an international business center, fronted by a golf course, an international school, robot park, museum, ecotarium, cultrual center, North East Asia Trade Tower, First World Towers, and even a Central Park. Everything all laid out and planned. It will be connected by 21km bridge to the Incheon Airport, one of the few five star airports in the world (voted world's best airport for four years now).

After we went to the Songdo Convensia (convention center), we toured the city which was still basically under construction. The guide said the Korean government funded everything at first, and it was only later that the investors came in.

That, my friends, is a good use of time, money and attention. It certainly won't happen here in the Philippines, where construction projects sprout up only in time for the elections (to show government officials care, and to pad up their own election funds via construction kickbacks). Even Dumaguete changed from City of Gentle People to City of Construction Projects. Ugly to look at, uglier to drive through.

When will it end?