Kidlat Tahimik calls on scrapping 'bias for trending' at ABS-CBN franchise hearing

MANILA, Philippines — National Artist for Film Eric Oteyza de Guia, better known as Kidlat Tahimik, called on ABS-CBN to produce more cultural shows if they will be given a chance to renew their franchise. 

In a House hearing today, Kidlat was a resource speaker and he began his speech by saying that he took no sides in tackling the issue. 

"Hindi po ako narito para sa panig at depensa or prosecution of ABS-CBN. Bilang isang cultural worker, I think it's important na isama ang kultura ng Pilipino and the responsibilities of the broadcasting industry to our culture," Kidlat said. 

"The bias or the skew that comes from the preponderance of advertising will change what the audience can see or what they cannot see. There are many films or programs that cannot be shown because they are not 'patok sa takilya'," he added. 

He talked about an unseen bias regarding what TV companies are producing.

"The only bias we're talking about now is the bias for the trending... The bias dahil trending, the thinking that papatok yan," he said. 

"That's why we're more into superheroes like Spider-Man and Wonder Woman than over Andres Bonifacio etc."

Kidlat also said that television impacts a lot of people especially the kids, so it is better for broadcasting firms to focus on producing cultural shows to improve Filipinos' lives.

"My appeal is that we can't take for granted the impact of television. It's not like the microwave or washing machine. It's a very powerful tool that can inspire us, make us believe in different ideologies... so we have to make sure that it is really used in the service of the Filipino," he said. 

"I think a lot of our programs are patterned after the programs na papatok, which come from abroad. Unless we take our storytelling with our cultural filters, we will remain copycats of foreign programming. Ang biktima is going to be the Filipino people."

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