Edu vs child pornography

Curtain-raiser:

•I can’t understand the fuss raised by talent-manager Becky Aguila over her ward Valerie Concepcion’s doing a “passionate” kissing scene with Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao in Anak ni Kumander which Pacman himself is producing. For one thing, Valerie (photo) is not a minor and is presumed to be old enough to know what she’s doing, unless she’s a robot that doesn’t have a mind of its own. Besides, Valerie is not a spring chicken, so to speak. She has appeared sexy on the cover of FHM and she’s, in fact, an unwed mother. If she were as innocent as, say, Shaina Magdayao, Becky’s “raising hell” would have been logical and rational. Had Becky been as protective as she is now, I guess she could have prevented Valerie from committing the “indiscretion” that rudely interrupted her career. If the “kisscandal” is a gimmick, I’m sorry to say but it sounds hollow. You know, enough already dahil kumita na ang mga ganyang gimik noong panahon ni Mahoma. Also, I hate to be a wet blanket this early but according to my “Cyrstal Ball,” Pacman will have another collision with harsh reality during the Metro Filmfest, whatever that means. Pacman’s first such painful collision was when he dared run for congressman in Gensan in last May’s elections (won by Darlene Custodio).

* * *

As if he’s not facing a tough battle with “pirates,” Optical Media Board (OMB) chairman Edu Manzano has just launched an equally Herculean battle, this time against child pornography, a personal advocacy that may be related but has nothing to do with his job at the OMB.

But first, everybody must be curious if Edu is ready to write off the recent controversy involving him and Sen. Bong Revilla — you know, forgive and forget in the spirit of Christmas?

If ever he and Sen. Bong Revilla would kiss and make up, with Sen. Jinggoy Estrada acting as “peace negotiator,” Edu would rather do it away from the spotlight, in private.

“I don’t want people to think that what happened was a ‘gimmick,’” he told Funfare in a one-on-one. “Still and all, people tend to look at us as ‘showbiz’ and everthing that we do as ‘gimmick,’”

As we all know, “what happened” was a simple case of a raid in video shops at the Makati Cinema Square selling pirated tapes, which would have been followed by a similar (abortive) raid in Quiapo. Bong showed up at the Makati Cinema Square after the raid but Edu did not. An exchange of heated words followed between the two gentlemen and the whole thing was blown out of proportion.

Some people said that Bong has no right “encroaching” into OMB territory but Bong said that as chairman of the Senate Oversight Committee, he has the authority to do so.

Bong used to hold the same position (the agency was then called Video Regulatory Board, or VRB) which he had to give up when he decided to run for senator in 2004. He was among those who recommended Edu for the position — “And I’m thankful to him for that and to the others who also recommended me, including Star Cinema, Viva Films and GMA Films.”

But that’s beside the point.

“What happened was not just between Mr. Revilla and me,” said Edu who politely refused to address Bong as “Sen. Bong” or “Sen. Revilla” lest people misconstrue him as fighting the Senate. “This is not just a case of miscommunication as Mr. Revilla sees it. When we conduct a raid, lives are at stake, those of my men and even those of the ‘pirates.’ so we have to be careful; we have to see to it that the OMB has enough men during the operation and the necessary search warrant. There are rules and regulations that we have to follow.”

In the next breath, reacting to (unverified) reports that Bong might be grilled by the Senate Ethics Committee, Edu at once absolved him, saying, “I want to set the record straight: Mr. Revilla didn’t usurp the authority or power of the OMB because he didn’t lead the raid. He arrived on the scene after the raid,” shrugging off his challenge as anti-climactic for him and Bong to be put to a lie-detector test.

Like Bong, Edu said that he’s determined to fight piracy, never mind if it entails putting his life on the line, for the sake of the film industry. (Bong said that as an actor-producer, he’s among the victims of pirates and he’s worried, like last year, his Metro Filmfest entry this year, Resiklo, and the eight others might be pirated and the CDs sold on the sidewalks even before the filmfest is over.)

“But the OMB serves not only the film industry,” Edu hastened to add. “Also within its authority are video games (Playstation included), software, microsoft, audio, music and even books that are reprinted for commercial purposes.”

During our interview, Edu showed me photos of girls, aged 14 and below, lined up nude firing-squad style; and of a girl, not more than five years old, made to perform an obscene act on an older man. The pictures were so revolting. Which led us to Edu’s anti-child-pornography advocacy which was formally launched yesterday, together with Gabriela, CIBAC, the National Youth Commission and the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

“Child pornography is a serious problem,” said Edu who has been donating as seed money he earned from hosting corporate shows, plus the proceeds from the sale of his Papaya album (Universal Records), to his advocacy. “It’s a nationwide problem. From what we gathered, it’s the parents themselves who sell their daughters to foreigners, sometimes for P50,000 each. You can find CDs of these little girls, sold openly in malls. We have confiscated thousands of them. These victims are scarred for life, can you imagine?”

One of these days, Edu might talk to the networks (ABS-CBN, GMA 7, RPN 9, ABC 5 and NBN 4) to help in his campaign.

“This should be above and beyond the network war,” said Edu and I agree with him. “Everybody, the media and private citizens, should pool their efforts and resources together in fighting this social evil before it completely destroys our youth.”

Meanwhile, Bong is working for an increase in the budget for the OMB, something Edu and his men have been whining about. And in this season of “peace on earth and goodwill to men,” will Chairman  Edu and “Mr. Revilla” cool down and, well, to paraphrase the ’60s hippie line, make peace not war?

(E-mail reactions at [email protected] or at [email protected])