The life we knew

Pinoy Big Brother (PBB) is hot. Everybody is talking about it. From Lando my barber to my "sosi" neighbor Brigette, who used to be Brigida until she married a mining executive from Australia.

According to Pete, Brigette’s husband, PBB is risqué, exciting and explosive. He, too, is hooked. He says he likes Cass, who resembles Brigette a little bit.

In one of the episodes last week, people saw new housemate Sam kissing Chyx (or was it the other way around?) and in another episode some people were scandalized with the skimpy clothing some housemates wore. "No big deal," Pete exclaimed. "There was nothing lewd I saw on PBB. What I saw, I see on TV everyday so what’s the fuss?"

But according to MTRCB, this crossed the line of the Parental Guidance Classification. The program did not heed the warning of the MTRCB for it to lessen the sexually suggestive language and sexy outfits of the housemates. And because of this, Pinoy Big Brother was suspended for one day.

Why is Pinoy Big Brother so controversial? Aren’t we ready for a program like this?

The show is not scripted. The behavior of the housemates that we see is real. There is no manipulation. Nobody tells them to do what we see on screen. Some are proper, some are not. In PBB, we watch the reality – that offends, that irritates, that teases, that reminds us of what is proper and what is improper. Essentially we are watching people familiar to us. And some of us have a hard time dealing with this.

There are a lot of uglier things we see on TV. Senseless political debates are more offensive. Physical and emotional brutalities that fill the news are even more shocking. But we say they’re ok because these are reported as news and they really happen. "But isn’t this distorted reasoning?", Pete asked.

PBB is an experiment. This is how it looks to us. It creates a world that is bare and simple. No cellular phones, no newspapers, no TV. PBB has no connection to the outside world for 100 days. This was life as we knew it. The housemates are themselves – armed with nothing but their basic needs, their hearts and minds, their character.

Expectedly, they will like and dislike each other. What shocks us are actually the expected because they affirm our own weaknesses and misgivings about ourselves given the same situation.

But isn’t this a wonderful opportunity for us viewers to remind us all of how we behave given our primordial instincts to rule?

The show is a strange but honest mirror for all of us. It reflects the ugly and the beautiful in all of us.

Talk to yourself about what you see. You can become a better person. If you can see that this Jason who is married flirts with another housemate, then say – hey it’s wrong – I should not do it. And let the Jason in you see that it is unfair to your wife who waits for you at home thinking that you are loyal just as she is loyal to you.

What is happening inside the PBB house is happening elsewhere. It can be your own home. Are you worried about the truth? Or are you screaming foul about PBB because we are terrified by our own demons? To me, life is all about being open.

Yes, not everything that is true is good. Some truths destroy. But there’s nothing more destructive than evading it, as if it doesn’t exist. Whether that reflection in the mirror is beautiful or monstrous, that reflection is you and I.

Teens HealthQuarters

Marikina City launches Teens HealthQuarters (THQ) with a back-to-back concert by the Side A band and Freestyle on Oct. 15 at the Freedom Park.

THQ aims to provide young people with accessible services on information education, values clarification, behavior modeling as well as medical services on sexuality, reproductive health and development needs.

"Marikina Mayor Marides Fernando has set a model for local government units," says Aurora Silayan-Go, president and franchise director of Teens HealthQuarters. "She is concerned with the increasing rate in teen pregnancies, confusion in sexual identity and young people becoming mothers at age 20, among others."

Silayan-Go adds: "Values on commitment, respect for one’s partner, what true love means, these are all part of the THQ education and these issues will be addressed."