MikeLigalig.com

Damaged culture breeds idiots

By Rodel Rodis
Wednesday, November 16th, 2011


Barely 10 days before the May 2010 Philippine presidential elections, vice-presidential candidate Jojo Binay found himself  9 points behind in the polls to front-runner Mar Roxas when photos of him cavorting in Australia with his alleged mistress surfaced in the Internet. Binay readily admitted the extramarital affair to the press claiming that he was “just a human being capable of committing mistakes”. Binay went on to win the vice-presidency.

Having an extramarital affair can prove politically fatal in the United States as former U.S. Sen. John Edwards learned after the National Enquirer exposed his dalliance with filmmaker Rielle Hunter, with whom he fathered a child. Edwards was forced to withdraw from the 2008 race for the Democratic presidential nomination.

In the damaged culture universe of the Philippines, however, such indiscretions are considered normal. Despite widespread public knowledge of his philandering ways, former Pres. Joseph “Erap” Estrada still placed second to Noynoy Aquino in the 2010 presidential elections. His official Wikipedia biography even lists his children with Dr. Luisa “Loi” Pimentel, Guia Gomez, Laarni Enriquez, and Joy Rowena.

Erap is far from being unique in show business. In her Philippine Star column this past week (“Cuckoo Clans”), Yoly Villanueva-Ong wrote that Dolphy (Rodolfo V. Quizon), the King of Comedy, has 18 children with six different women. Dolphy’s autobiography confirms that he has 6 children with Engracia Dominguez; 4 with Gloria Smith; 4 with Pamela Ponti; 1 with Evangeline Tugalao; and 1 with Alma Moreno.

But there is a dark side to having “mass-produced” children with multiple partners.

As Villanueva-Ong wrote, “nobody thought it was funny when one of (Dolphy’s children) burned down the home of a showbiz mogul, setting ablaze the wife and children. Another son was in drug rehab, a younger one was involved in an accident that got his girlfriend killed. Recently, a grandson was charged with attempted murder.”


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Next week marks the second anniversary of the Ampatuan Massacre which was perpetrated by the clan of Gov. Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr, who officially has four wives and over 30 children.  Two of his sons, Andal, Jr. and Datu Unsay, are charged with presiding over the brutal killing and rape of over 56 people including 31 members of the Philippine media, on November 22, 2009.

The latest crime involving “mass-produced” children was the October 28 killing of Ramgen Bautista, also known as Ram Revilla, reportedly upon the orders of his own younger brother, RJ, and sister, Mara (who fled to Turkey). They are three of the 81 children of former Sen. Ramon Revilla, Sr., who regularly invites all of his children to his annual birthday party to make certain that they all know each other to prevent a romantic relationship among them that, he fears, may produce idiots.

What moral values are imparted to the 81 children attending his birthday party?


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