I try to make it a point to be a tourist in the city we live in. It had been five months since our move and we decided to check out the Ninoy Aquino Wildlife Park in Quezon City (my tip: skip it) on a warm January weekend. While there, we bumped upon the shoot of a mini-series produced by Carlo J. Caparas called “Kroko” – about a vengeance-seeking escaped crocodile.
It was fun showing the kids the mechanics of film-making. “Look kids. That’s a really fake-looking replica of the crocodile. “ or “That’s the director (action director Toto Natividad) telling the actors what to do.”
Fast-forward to news that Carlo J. Caparas had supposedly inked a five-year deal worth P1.3 Billion (yes) contract with PCSO – yes, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes – to produce (yes, again) shows to be shown on IBC and NBN (yes, in case you’ve forgotten they still exist: that’s Channels 4 and 13). Now, let’s pause a bit before we move on to the next paragraph.
Did that just hit you like it did me? If it didn’t, then this is what this piece is all about. Let’s, intelligently, break this down:
- Have not seen a copy of the contract (can’t someone put it online? Where’s our own thesmokinggun.com?) so really can’t go into specifics. What I can say is that P1.3 Billion is a lot of money even over five years. My cheap calculator didn’t have enough zeros so I had to use my Ipod Touch (thanks to my brother, Carlo, by the way for it) in horizontal setting to figure out that that comes out to about P2,500,000.00 per show (it apparently is for two shows shown on a weekly basis).
Sorry, won’t be able to show you any images of the shows since there are none online nor is there any website. With P1.3 Billion, you’d think….
- What is the PCSO doing in the TV production business? The thinking, according to former PCSO director Manoling Morato, is that showing “Ang Pangarap Kong Jackpot” (one of the two shows) is meant to increase lottery sales. Apparently, it’s that and those irritating radio spots (Peeeeee Ceeeee Ssssssss Ooooooohhh….). Manoling, here’s a novel idea: Want to see Filipinos go berserk and buy like crazy? Raise the jackpot to P1.3 Billion and see what happens.
- Background on PCSO. It’s a government agency (means we own it) and part of the mandate seems to indicate that it can find other ways of making money. Hypothetically, they can be producers. Ok, granted. But, honestly, can they really make money by showing something on NBN and IBC. Ilagan City, how’s the signal there by the way?
Since we're all producers now, this is how P2.5 million looks like:
That is the crux of this piece: Some of my fellow Filipinos think they can do anything they want and get away with it. You know what? They’re right. Here, Screwers win….and win a lot. I’ve always admired the ingenuity of the Filipino in finding ways to game a certain system. Kickbacks, percentages, “commissions,” etc. (the “Koreans” – Magkano KO RYAN? and the “Eddies” – EH, DI paano naman ako?). I just laugh at how colleagues (now, ex-colleagues) found shrewd ways of being dishonest. Now, if we can all just channel that creativity…
Is it human nature to take advantage of other people? You tell me.
You know what, though: What just happened? It’s barely going to register in the national consciousness. Not like Hayden Kho or John Lloyd and Shaina have. If there’s anybody to blame for this – it’s our culture. The Screwers have just been screwing the behinds of the Screwees for so long and for so often that’s it been impossible to feel anything anymore. Manhid na. Because of that, we’ve learned to lower the bar on our morals and (worst) critical thinking. When I heard someone I know – a Gloria apologist – say that “she’s better because even if she steals at least she’s doing something for our country” I felt like we just collectively positioned ourselves comfortably between Somalia and Burundi on some risk management group’s statistical chart somewhere. Oops, is that a formal complaint filed against me by the embassies of those two countries?
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