Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock the past four days or so, you would know that the headlines have been hogged by this whole Vhong Navarro fiasco. He allegedly got his ass kicked by a couple of guys. Now, those guys claim Navarro tried to rape their gal pal. I’ll leave it to the courts (assuming it gets there) to decide who is telling the truth; I’m not going to talk about what happened between them. My main issue here is the fact that this group of people have eaten up most of the airtime allocated for news on practically every network in the country.
Incidents like this are tragic but it’s not like these things are so uncommon that TV networks need to tell and re-tell the whole story over and over again so the nation may grasp what exactly is going on. But people get beat up all the time! Sometimes it’s just a minor altercation between two people over bulalo. Sometimes it’s as bad as the crap beaten out of you by three guys. However, you rarely see them getting substantial airtime on news shows. Reporters just share with us the basics — X got drunk, hits on Y’s girlfriend, Y gets really pissed, punches X in the face, policemen from station Z arrive late and so on. Then they move on to the next story. These stories get filed into “Police Reports” or something like that, with the entire segment lasting about five minutes, 10 tops. And to top it all off, the NBI got involved! Why?? If Navarro wasn’t popular, if he was just another Average Joe, I doubt DOJ Sec. Leila De Lima would task the NBI to take care of this matter.
But of course, we can’t deny the fact that Vhong Navarro is a celebrity. People just can’t have enough of celebrity news. Fans want to know if he’s doing okay. Haters want to know if he’s going to lose his job over this, etc. Networks know this. And what better way to boost ratings than by airing fairly common incidents that happen to celebrites?
It’s very, very annoying, though. I’m already sick of seeing Navarro’s face on TV, Twitter, Facebook, Inquirer.net, Philstar.com, etc. Yes, I get it, it’s sad. But so is the Pork Barrel Scam. It seems people have already stopped talking about it. Don’t tell me y’all have forgotten about Janel Napoles already?
I wanted to avoid talking about this TV-networks-wasting-airtime-on-celebrities mess but last night, GMA News reported that Jennylyn Mercado was…………… stung by a jellyfish (the harmless kind)!!!!! Her arm became red and a bit swollen, but other than that, she was perfectly fine. WOW. That is so newsworthy! But that makes me wonder. I got stung by a jellyfish before. Millions of people around the world have been stung and will get stung by jellyfish in beaches. Why, oh why, are there no news crews running to the scene of the tragic incident to interview me or everyone else who got stung? I guess if a mass stinging had happened, the media needs to report it. But it was just one girl. Who was stung. By a single jellyfish. That led to itching in her arm.
Going back to Navarro and friends, I have to admit that I don’t like Vhong. Never have, never will. I hated his crappy, artless novelty songs even back in my Elementary School years. His “3-in-1 plus 1” Selecta ice cream commercial annoys me. But I feel sorry for him that he got his ass kicked badly (after seeing this photo of him, you probably would too). And I feel sorry for that Lee guy, Cornejo girl and their families for having to go through this predicament. But enough is enough. I just wish they’d settle whatever needs to be settled quickly, quietly and peacefully and stop hogging the headlines, you know?
Updated 7:08 P.M, Manila Standard Time
THIS IS ABSURD. Senator Jinggoy Estrada now suggests the possibility of a Senate probe on this issue because Vhong Navarro is his “best friend”. You guys stay out of this. Focus on the Pork Barrel scandal investigation, which, interestingly, Sen. Estrada is involved in.
patrickkennan.com 