BY MARICHU VILLANUEVA: STAR WARS

BY MARICHU VILLANUEVA: STAR WARS

MANILA, FEBRUARY 15, 2010 (STAR) COMMONSENSE By Marichu A. Villanueva - Here’s something for Commission on Elections (Comelec) legal department chief Ferdinand Rafanan to chew on. Controversial television host and actress Kris Aquino and her buddy, talent manager and TV emcee Boy Abunda have appeared separately on TV campaign ads endorsing the candidacy of come-backing Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto.

Kris and Boy are both talents from the Lopez-owned TV network ABS-CBN. And the irony of it all is the fact that the tandem hosts of ABS-CBN top-rating “The Buzz” TV-movie talk show program are endorsers of a key talent from their rival TV network GMA-7. Sotto happens to be one of the very popular trio called “Tito, Vic & Joey” who host the longest-running noontime TV variety show “Eat Bulaga” aired on GMA-7.

The campaign ad of Sotto shows Kris appearing as a contestant in Pinoy Henyo, a very popular game portion of Eat Bulaga. Those who watch this show are familiar on how to play the game in which a team of two contestants — one will try to guess the secret word or words of either names of places or persons. Within a time limit of two minutes, the contestant asks his teammate questions answerable by “yes” or “no” that will lead to the right answer.

In the 30-seconder campaign ad, Kris supposedly tries to guess the secret word but is actually trying to describe Sotto as the “clues.” Kris asks “Family man ba s’ya?; Mabuting asawa at ama? Ipinagtatanggol ba n’ya mga kababaihan at kabataan?” The ad ends with Sotto being identified as "Senador ng Pamilyang Pilipino" and the principal author of the law that created Family Courts.

In his own campaign spiels for Sotto, Boy appears as another contestant guessing if the subject is known for “nagpapatumba ng drug lords?…nagpapatumba ba siya ng mga bowling pins?” The ad extro shows Sotto as the principal author of the law that created the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and gold medalist in international bowling competitions.

The Kris, Abunda ad campaigns for Sotto come at the heels of the hullabaloo stirred by the alleged proposal by somebody from the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) to ban popular personalities in media and entertainment from endorsing candidates in the coming national elections in May. That somebody from the PPCRV supposedly invoked Section 36 of RA 9006, or the Fair Election Act.

The PPCRV purportedly claimed that this particular provision of the law makes it mandatory for showbiz and media personalities to take a leave of absence from TV shows or media outfits while endorsing a candidate or political party.

Fortunately, the very articulate official spokesman of Comelec James Jimenez clarified there is no such straight jacket requirement under RA 9006. Jimenez rightly pointed out that the Comelec Resolution No. 8758 or Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 9006, stated that celebrities who campaign for candidates are not required to take a leave while doing so.

But the mis-interpretation of the intent and spirit of the law have turned into another source of network war. GMA-7 issued a statement calling upon its talents and showbiz personalities — like the Senator’s younger brother Vic Sotto and their good friend and The STAR columnist Joey de Leon — to take a leave of absence if they continue to endorse candidates or political parties during the campaign period. In a statement, GMA-7 announced that they would also stop airing political ads that showed some of their talents endorsing a candidate or a political party during the campaign period.

The ABS-CBN, on the other hand, correctly cited that the law would only apply to their regular employees who are endorsing candidates or political parties as in the case of their TV/radio news anchor Korina Sanchez after she married LP vice presidential candidate Sen. Mar Roxas II. “Talents are not employees of the network and, therefore, the said provision does not apply to them,” ABS-CBN said in a statement. Further, they pointed to the network’s strict policy against talents using airtime to endorse candidates.

Endorsing a candidate during elections is not anything new for Kris. She, in fact, did not only endorse but also campaigned for President Arroyo during the May 2004 presidential elections. Kris is again in the thick of election campaign, this time for her big brother running in the coming May 10 presidential elections.

Kris, the youngest sister of Liberal Party (LP) presidential standard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, is leading fellow entertainment personalities in her brother’s campaign. Crossing party lines, Kris is endorsing Sotto whose wife, singer/actress Helen Gamboa is related to the Aquino side. Sotto is the lone senatorial candidate of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).

The NPC chieftain — Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco, chairman of giant conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) — is the uncle of Noynoy and Kris on their mother side, the late President Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino. Danding Cojuangco has not given any marching orders to his NPC partymates to support any of the top presidential candidates who also included another nephew, former Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Cojuangco Teodoro Jr. Gibo had joined last year the administration’s Lakas-CMD-Kampi and is now the party president after his bitter parting of ways with his uncle’s NPC party.

The NPC, though, has no presidential standard-bearer in the coming May 10 elections after its initial front-running bet, Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero backed out for reasons still unclear to the public. The NPC, however, has a very popular media personality as vice presidential candidate, Sen. Loren Legarda. She is running with Nacionalista Party (NP) presidential standard-bearer, Sen. Manny Villar who is being scored by his rivals for having the most number of showbiz personalities in the employ of the NP camp led by ABS-CBN’s Wowowee noontime show host Willy Revillame.

Gibo has no problem with celebrities as his vice presidential runningmate is TV emcee/actor Edu Manzano and has re-electionist Senators Ramon “Bong” Revilla and Lito Lapid in their Lakas slate.

The “Star Wars” will not be complete if we do not mention former President Joseph Estrada and his actor/son re-electionist Senator Jinggoy Estrada and other entertainment personalities vying for various posts in the May elections. It’s a choice between sheer popularity and competence to run in government office.

Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi

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