How many times do you need to hit these “journalists” for them to realize that Toni Gonzaga is not a “journalist” who is supposed to ask Bongbong Marcos (BBM) the tough questions? In his PhilSTAR piece “Walking on landmines: Toni Gonzaga’s Bongbong Marcos interview”, Joel Pablo Salud admits that Gonzaga, while not a journalist, but more of an entertainer is still remiss because it is on her to let the “truth” come out.
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“To treat controversial personalities with kid gloves is to be totally ignorant of the responsibility an interviewer carries on his or her shoulders, and the interviewee’s capacity to answer tough questions,” writes Salud. Then again, given the attention to detail that mainstream media has devoted to the Marcos family, is there anything else that the public isn’t aware of with the exception of those who haven’t learned how to read yet or are devoid of hearing and cognitive skills given the medium is video?
About the only reason why the likes of Salud and his ilk are pissed is because Gonzaga’a vlog has a huge following and they are afraid this will make BBM more popular than he already is, to the detriment of whoever the Opposition standard-bearer will be. I had a short discussion with a colleague/friend earlier in the evening and we touched on this subject. We shared the same opinion about how stupid it is that the Opposition is now picking on Gonzaga but they had no complaints when Vice President Leni Robredo was interviewed. It is also ironic that despite their admission that Gonzaga is not a journalist, they still want to hold her accountable for her sin of omission by not asking Marcos Jr, tough questions.
Basically, what they wanted Gonzaga to do was squeeze blood from stone as what they have been doing with the Marcoses since 1986. They have contended with their ignominious departure from Malacañan, exile in the US and other countries for the Imee, having to return to their own country to be treated like pariahs and ostracized no end by former friends and allies and live ordinary lives compared to what they were used to in the past. I have seen the former First Lady leave her house in San Juan in a BMW 5 series sedan with only a driver and one bodyguard in tow. She even stopped by the stall of a vendor along F. Blumentritt in San Juan to buy fruits but she didn’t step out of her car. She did it through the window of the vehicle. This is a far cry from her heyday when her long motorcade would pass by J.P. Laurel St. going to Malacañan where we could catch a glimpse of her from the window of the vehicle she was on, waving to us on the street while we stood watching the procession of vehicles laden with her entourage and security detail.
The Marcoses have contended with ignominity with grace and dignity. There are, in fact, more politicians of lesser stature who are more haughty now than they were before even at their peak. What the likes of Salud which the rest of his cohorts don’t acknowledge is the Marcoses could have opted to live in exile abroad in peace and enjoy their wealth. For this matter, every Marcos crony could have done the same but they, nay all of them, chose to return and face the cases filed against them. Some like Lucio Tan, didn’t even leave, at the height of the “Edsa Revolution.”
Why then does the Ateneo Martial Law Museum have the temerity to invite Gonzaga to an “education” initiative about the horrors of martial law in the Philippines without even taking into account the involvement of Ninoy Aquino in the organization of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its terrorist arm the New People’s Army (CPP/NPA) and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), which led Marcos to declare martial law is beyond belief. The Opposition accuses the Marcoses of “historical revisionism” when they are equally guilty of the same.
This invitation is no different from what Mao made the Chinese go through as “reeducation” during his infamous Cultural Revolution. Who’s being tbe dictator now? Stifling free speech? Who? Is it the Marcoses or the Opposition who claim to be the “good” battling the “evil”?
It has often been said that the sins of the father are not the sins of the son. The Opposition insists that each and every Marcos was complicit in the “crimes” of their parents. But which is the bigger crime against the Filipino people? Is it what the Marcos’ did in twenty years in power? Or is it what the Opposition failed to do in their thirty years in power?
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Real talk: Gonzaga’s career basically dissipated when ABS-CBN closed down so she needs income from other outlets, like her vlogs. And whether she’s paid to do interviews on next election’s candidates is fair game because it’s her livelihood. Choosy pa ba siya? Lots of people lost their job and are still struggling to survive the pandemic. Some people resorted to illicit schemes and I was among their victims. Between those crooks and Gonzaga, who interviews politicians to give them “platform” and publicity, I have more respect for the latter as she is way more decent. Salud and the museum curators are lucky they are not in the shoes of Gonzaga and other struggling people, they live comfortable lives in times of crisis, pretending to be the embattled “hero ‘activists'” who purportedly represent the common masses. My foot! The other species of Opposhitionists, the online social climbers and yellow trolls have been living on donations they gather online since the lockdowns started. There are some who resorted to becoming scammers. Others, as we’ve seen them on Twitter, became part of the “alter world” which is the 2020s version of prostitution. Between becoming a fuccboi on #AlterPinoy, or becoming an online beggar or worse a digital crook and interviewing politicians on my vlog, it’s clear which one is the best choice.
How would someone like Salud understand that? He lives in the comforts of a walled subdivision, far from the reality of the common Pinoys he so desperately claims to represent. His version of reality is stuck in the decades old Martial Law drama bullcrap.
Indeed, it is a free market. The Yellowtards need to understand this. Rather than cancel Gonzaga, they should come up with a better product. That’s how free markets work — compete for finite eyeballs rather than whine about not getting what you want.
“Marcos is evil” rhetoric is no longer relevant today. We can now already see the incompetence of the Yellow government. 30+ years of feudalism mentality shoved in the mouths of the Filipino people. Fooling the people via mainstream media, massacred the farmers in Mendiola, cancelling the Nuclear Powerplant, corruption is rampant, etc.
Never again will the Yellow be allowed to enter the Malacanang Office. Watch out for Isko and the likes. These people are slowly going to get infested.
The Ateneo also need to write an open letter for the victim of Hacienda Luicita, Mendiola Massacre,Yolanda victims, saff 44,,and the victims of cpp npa of ninoy traitor aquino. They destroyed and killed so many lives and it’s documented, unlike this martial law so called victim who Juan ponce Enrile said that those people are npa who was caught by the military, they are criminals who plays victim of martial law