The Kris and Noynoy show on ABS-CBN

I don’t usually watch TV nor do I follow the latest movie world gossip so I was surprised how far gone The Kris and Noynoy show has been showing on ABS-CBN.

For some background. In the 70s I wrote a book The Untold Story of Imelda Marcos. It was a straightforward narration of Imelda’s life before she became the First Lady. Marcos and Imelda tried to suppress the book and I had to decide whether I would go on with the book or give it up in the face of extreme pressure and harassment. It became a question of freedom. I chose to go on with the book and began a journey that would lead me from housewife to politics to exile and back at the end of the Marcos years.

While in exile in London, we joined the opposition’s fight to regain democracy. Democrats partnered with vested interests and formed a community to oppose the Marcos dictatorship. At the center of that movement was Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino whose journey turned him from an ambitious politician to become a martyr when he was assassinated in 1983. It was serious stuff. When his widow, Cory Aquino took up the mantle after his assassination, the expectation was she would lead the movement towards reforms not only in the Filipino body politic but in society as well. Alas she was not up to it. She was, they said, a victim of her own class and despite her good intentions, unable to lead the political reform and moral regeneration among Filipinos inspired by the struggle against a dictatorship. Her powerful supporters were amply rewarded and we returned to the pre-martial law status quo.

Meanwhile, her pretty daughter, Kris soon became a celebrity. She became a product endorser with her face smacked on billboards and in print ads. On her personal life, it would be kind to say that she led a less than exemplary life marked by scandals reminiscent of Peyton Place than being a child of a man who gave up his life for a better country. She had a lackadaisical brother, Noynoy who might have just continued as her lesser brother even as he became a congressman and later a senator. But there were other promises waiting for them as dynasts, like being resurrected as the heirs of a patriotic and democratic legacy.

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Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, of forgettable credentials, has been put up as the presidential candidate of reform and change in a country with more than 96 million people and humongous problems. Filipinos are being asked to close ranks and support him with nothing other than that he is the son of Ninoy and Cory, and a brother of Kris to boot.

But all this was preceded by a funeral cortege reminiscent of Ninoy’s after his assassination. The inference is that Filipinos are unable to distinguish between the two events.

 The celebrity sister is marshalling all her connections in the movie world for a bandwagon for him as the candidate of the nation. What does that make of us who want to think and know that this Kris and Noynoy act is a shallow form of entertainment and far from Filipino aspirations for better lives and a nation respected in the world.

I think it is a runaway overkill with a cast of movie stars, all friends of Kris among them Sharon Cuneta, Ogie Alcasid, Ai-ai de las Alas and of course the profound Boy Abunda who dishes out world views in his talk show. I hear there is even a Noynoy anthem sang by Regine Velasquez.

The Kris and Noynoy act is designed to win the masa, the ignorant masses that make up the country’s electorate. And of course, we will have a sea of yellow — yellow t-shirts, yellow umbrellas, yellow flags, yellow bandannas — all very pretty — but is this serious? Why should we allow the trivialization of election if it is the ultimate test of democracy? Simple. It is the presidential system as we have interpreted it — a popularity and money contest, not dissimilar from the American kind but without any seriousness.

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It is easy to dismiss the whole she-bang as showbiz and regarded as just another movie script. The story begins with Cory’s well-attended funeral and its transformation into a political cause for Noynoy’s candidacy and his election as president. It has its appeal and none more strident than ABS-CBN’s Boto Mo, Ipatrol Mo, Ako ang Simula.

Fine. By all means, guard the votes but who and what are we voting for? Those questions seem to have been left out. If it were for someone who would lead us, truly lead us, then it is a meaningful advocacy. But the sorry truth is the guarding of votes only means we are being made pawns of a determined onslaught by oligarchies who do not want change and yet want us to believe that they are campaigning for change.

According to ABS-CBN “we have one year to change traditional politics in our country and we are empowering them through this multimedia campaign.” Only one year? We have been at it for generations.

It will of course be condemned if media were to proclaim their candidate and that this advocacy is part of the grand scheme to get Noynoy elected as President because he will protect vested interests.

The Lopez owned media boasts of its multiplatform structure — television, radio, cable TV, the Internet, and mobile technology. I can bet you it would never be used if it were in support of a strong state capable of regulating the power of monopolies. But for a long time now, it has been clear that the marriage of powerful media and political partisanship is a lethal combination. It has not helped the country move forward. It isn’t about change but about protecting the status quo.