How to cure (political) constipation (UPDATED)

I LOVE Edu Manzano. There I said it. "Love" not in a thumpity-thump heart-beat kind of way, but "love" as in I really admire his talents.

He was an excellent actor, even better than most Pinoys' favorite, Boyet de Leon, who I think tends to be OA. Edu's terrific sense of humor, intelligence, and articulacy in both the English and Filipino languages (not to mention the Ilonggo dialect) make him a natural host whether it be for a game show, a talk show, or a variety show. And apparently, he's even a good dancer! with his Papaya Dance capturing even the imagination of Good Morning America anchors in the U.S. You name it, he has the chops. Edu is one of best entertainers in the country and gives some amount of class to an industry peppered with the likes of Wowowillie.

But will he make a good vice president for the Philippines?

Edu was vice mayor of Makati in 1998 and almost didn't get to assume the position because his opponents claimed he was not a Filipino citizen. For those who don't know, Edu was born in San Francisco in Sept. 1955. But the Comelec ruled on Sept. 1998, that he was indeed Filipino by virtue of having registered as a Filipino voter. The case was elevated to the Supreme Court but the justices likewise ruled in Edu's favor.

His term of office was largely unremarkable I don't remember any earthshaking accomplishments. But I suppose he was largely sidelined from doing much more than he could bec. it was really Jojo Binay who was running the show, being the mayor.

Edu took a shot at the mayoralty position in 2001, fighting the massive machinery and experience of Binay and lost. He ran on an anti-corruption platform backed by the Forbes Park crowd, but it's been alleged that he knew he was not going to emerge victorious in that race. But as everyone joked then, at least he ended up fiscally fit. Hmmph! Bad talaga kayo.

After losing that election, Edu went back to showbusiness until he was appointed as the very first chairman of the Optical Media Board in 2004, after the Optical Media Act was signed into law in 2003. The OMB, whose forerunner was the Videogram Regulatory Board, is supposed to spearhead the fight against film piracy.

I don't know about you guys, but it seems to me there are more pirated discs flooding the market even before this particular law was enacted. Sure there have been few high-profile raids vs small retailers of pirated discs w/c we see reported intermittently on TV and the newspapers, but the problem continues. And it's been what? five years since the OMB has been operating? Tsk, tsk. Again there are many rumors floating around why film piracy continues and why Edu has largely been unsuccessful in eliminating it, some of w/c are not fit to publish here. Interestingly enough, Edu blames the rampant film piracy on Muslim extremists in the South.

Then between hosting jobs and his OMB stint, he founded the Ako Mismo organization w/c was eyed w/ much suspicion, for not immediately identifying the proponents behind it and what the movement was all about. The movement was foisted on the public via TV ad w/c featured a number of celebrities and thought to be the vehicle to push the presidential candidacy of businessman Manny Pangilinan. Edu finally went on ANC explaining that the organization was advocating for change by encouraging Filipinos to stand up for themselves and not depend on anyone else but themselves to institute reforms.

While he has said that the movement is non-political, w/ his run for VP, I doubt if it will remain as such. In fact, as I wrote then, I thought the Ako Mismo campaign seemed suspiciously like a pro-administration movement bec. after all, Edu is a GMA appointee. Well, well, well...I told you so.



The many loves of Edu: (clockwise from top left) Vilma Santos, Maricel Soriano, Rina Samson and Pinky Webb. Photos from PEP, Photobucket, and Facebook.

On the personal side, Edu's lovelife has always been super interesting! He was once married to Gov. Ate Vi (who has sensibly decided to continue taking care of Batangas) and they have a son Luis (aka Lucky), also an actor. He then moved on to Maricel Soriano who I hear has just broken up w/ her most recent significant other. Then made the bed w/ Rina Samson - a former ground stewardess w/ Cathay Pacific - and w/ whom he has two children, Amanda Danielle and Lorenzo. Now he is said to be engaged to ANC news anchor Pinky Webb. Ang colorful di ba?!?! (Hmm...I wonder if ABS-CBN will ask Pinky to go on leave as well, the way management did w/ Ate Koring. And naku! are we in for another 'wedding of the year' ala MAR-Koring?)

(UPDATE 11/19/09: Accdg to the news today, Edu has confirmed that he and Pinky have split up. Not surprising. He was kinda uneasy when he answered Tina Monzon-Palma's question two days ago on whether Pinky knew about his VP plan. He said, she was surprised, and added, "We haven't spoken for a while." Ay grabeh. So no wedding of the year in 2010. Oh well.)

To answer my own question, while I respect Edu and his talents, he has yet to prove himself in the area of public service. It's pretty obvious why he was chosen by the ruling PaLaKa party to be Sec. Gilbert Teodoro's running mate in the 2010 elections. They are running scared and are desperate to shore up Gibo's popularity w/c has been lingering in the single-digit percentages. And after turning on their asses for weeks who could do the job, they finally "force out Edu, the Papaya King, to cure the party's political constipation!" as a Facebook friend puts it. Haha.

Does the PaLaKa stand a better chance now that it has Edu as its VP? No. I think Pinoy voters will decidedly remain anti-Gloria and will always associate the Gibo-Edu tandem w/ her. Both will still represent the corrupt practices that this administration continues to engage in and the blatant dishonesty that has marked her presidency. The party will not be able detach their team from what she represents, yes, even if she steps down from its chairmanship. That's how much damage the presidentita has done to the country, to the bureaucracy, and to her party.

I conclude w/ a quote from Edu himself from this noon's press briefing: (To Gibo, after the latter introduces Edu's background and advocacies in rather glowing terms): "Not even my mother has spoken highly of me!" Ayus.

La Greta is back!

(Gretchen Barretto's debut as a game show host. Apologies for the blurriness of the TV grabs.)

JUST when we all thought it was safe to watch free TV, well now, who shows up on the new TV5 but La Greta herself, hosting her own game show called, you better sit down now, You and Me against the World! Hahaha! I just love the tongue-in-cheek humor of the producers of the show, although the jury is still out regarding the show's merits.

So who said Gretchen was already separated from her significant other/momma's boy Tonyboy Cojuangco, owner of the broadcast station out in the boonies of Novaliches? (Okay, okay, there are no mountains in Novaliches, but I'm from Q.C., and even I think Novaliches is pretty far.)

And yet, who does she have as a first celebrity guest on the show but none other than John Estrada, the has-been artista who briefly regained fame after a photo of him and La Greta smooching in a party that was captured on his cellphone circulated around the Internet! My, my, TV5 is definitely pushing the envelope, not to mention Tonyboy's buttons, in drumming up interest in this show. (Then again, if the rumors are true that La Greta and he are no longer an item, he couldn't care less who she has on her show right?)

(John Estrada and La Greta...uyyy)
The other guest celebrity was Lucy Torres Gomez, wife of another has-been artista Richard Gomez. (She who gained notoriety way back when for her, errr, shopping habits.) Boring! although she had on a pretty cute green outfit. W/c we can't say of the host herself who wore an awful pink frou-frou dress! Ayayay! According to our TV5 source, the dress – designed by Ivar Aseron – actually looked gorgeous up close, but as we've seen, didn't make the same transitition to the tube. It made Gretchen look hideously fat! or pregnant. Take your pick. Tsk, tsk.

Now back to the show itself, I personally found it sooooo long. I think 30 minutes is enough for a game show, unless it's Jeopardy or Price is Right. And the level of challenge was very low. You can't actually lose on this show whether you're a contestant or an audience member.

As far as I can tell, the object of the game is for the contestant to win a million pesos. There are two contestants who may or may not team up in answering questions asked by the host. They have to correctly guess the answer of the audience which represent "the world." At the show's beginning, the two contestants can team up, and give the same answer. If they do, they both win P20,000. If they choose to answer separately, the winner only gets P10,000. If they don't guess the answer of "the world" correctly, the audience wins their own pot. Then, in the next portion, the two contestants play off against each other until either of them win P100,000. Whoever wins the most money or reaches P100,000 wins the next round. The one with the least money leaves. The winner of this round then moves on to the next round and asked another set of questions. Confusing? You betcha. I didn't bother to find out how the show ended.

(La Greta w/ the shoppingera, este Lucy Torres Gomez)
To be fair, La Greta is a good host. She's bright and funny, and knows how to play to the audience, both in the studio and at home. I found myself actually laughing at some of her potshots at Estrada, and her other witty remarks. But she is out of her element here. Perhaps TV5 should give her a showbiz gossip show instead.

I think she will be much more at ease hosting a talk show, and interviewing fellow celebrities. Her knowledge about the inner workings of the business and possibly tidbits about the celebrities themselves will serve her best. Now as to what format of such a showbiz show would be, well maybe it can be a cross between Chelsea Lately, David Letterman, and Entertainment Tonight. No grand productions like that idiotic lie detector stunt on another TV station's show, but maybe just straight celebrity interviews. We want the dirt.

As to You and Me Against the World, this is just the first episode so it could get better in the next few weeks (it plays every Sunday at 7 pm.) I was just waiting for it to get more exciting but sadly, it didn't deliver. There were no cliff-hanging moments where you think either of the contestant will lose. Unless I misunderstood the game mechanics, from what I've seen so far, no one goes home a loser. Everyone wins some money in the end. So there's no tension. No tension, no excitement.

Still, let's give the producers an A for effort for conceiving this new game show. After all, there is a dearth of originality out there. And I'd also clap for La Greta. Her social climbing ways aside, she did manage to hold her own as a host. Kudos.