You can also check out my CNET Asia blog post.

What?

An online petition calling for Revillame’s ouster has gathered nearly 50,000 signatures already; the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board has filed a complaint and called for the preventive suspension of Revillame; Facebook users have launched the Anti Willie Revillame Movement Facebook Group; and different organizations like the Alyansa ng Filipinong Mamamahayag have issued statements against Revillame, and somehow all this convinced Villar that Revillame should run for senator?

Here’s an excerpt from the abs-cbnNews.com story. Read it and weep.

“Oo, naman, very qualified naman si Willie, wala naman akong nakikitang problema kay Willie,” Villar said. “Yun ay isang bagay na dapat niyang pagisipan.”

Villar visited Revillame in Tagaytay after he found out about the controversy involving Revillame’s move to cut the live streaming of the late President Corazon Aquino’s August 3 procession which was being shown simultaneously on Wowowee through an inset video.

Revillame’s move irked many viewers and prompted him to go on indefinite leave from his popular entertainment show. Nearly 50,000 have expressed support for an online petition seeking Revillame’s ouster from Wowowee.

Villar said that although he didn’t get to watch that controversial Wowowee episode, he nonetheless wants to express his support for the popular host.

I guess we should expect it by now, but this move again shows how politics in this country mainly revolves around personalities, rather than principles. A controversial but popular TV host, despite all his past and present sins, is “very qualified” if a politician uses the twisted logic of “winnability” that is so prevalent in this country.

Villar, however, should rethink this decision. Already, those reacting to this news on Facebook and my Twitter and Plurk timelines are saying this would make them think twice about voting Villar for president, as this move to make Revillame a senator is an indication of Villar’s decision making process.

Not only that, but many of the people who are calling for Revillame’s ouster are Filipinos abroad — overseas Filipino workers and Fil-Ams who were outraged when they saw that Wowowee episode on TFC.

How do you think all these people will react to the thought of Revillame becoming senator? How do you think they will feel about Villar making this a possibility?

The sad thing is that people who otherwise would have voted for Villar are now disappointed in him because of this move.

That’s a thought that should give him pause.

Please, Senator Manny Villar, ‘wag magpadala sa maling akala.

As of this writing, the online petition now has 48,009 signatures. The irate viewers are protesting Revillame’s on-air comments on the Aquino cortege video that was shown as an inset during the airing of Wowowee.

Revillame’s critics have also set up the Anti Willie Revillame Movement Facebook Group, which now has over 5,000 members.

Meanwhile, the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board has filed a complaint and called for the preventive suspension of Revillame.

You may also check out Rodel Rodis’ “Oust Willie!” column piece for Global Nation at INQUIRER.net. Here’s an excerpt.

CALIFORNIA, United States—The death of Corazon Aquino produced an unprecedented outpouring of collective sorrow, with hundreds of thousands lining up at the Manila Cathedral to personally bid her farewell, from marginalized squatters to high society matrons, from leftist revolutionaries to rightist coup plotters.

The one discordant note in the otherwise unified sea of harmony came from Wowowee host Willie Revillame, who complained on the air that showing the Cory funeral cortege was sucking the fun out of his hugely popular ABS-CBN variety show.

For other Revillame-related new stories, check out my previous blog entry.

Here’s a copy of the video in case you haven’t seen it yet.

You may sign the online petition to oust Revillame here.

Here’s an excerpt from the abs-cbnNews.com article.

Willie Revillame is on leave “indefinitely” in the wake of the controversy generated by his order to cut the simultaneous live broadcast of the procession of President Corazon Aquino’s remains from his noontime show last August 3.

“Yes, naka-leave [siya]. From his (Revillame) own text [message] to me, indefinitely,” Bong Osorio, head of ABS-CBN’s corporate communications, told abs-cbnNEWS.com in a phone interview.

For those who haven’t seen it, here’s the YouTube clip of Revillame commenting on the Aquino cortege video.

A report from the Manila Bulletin, however, has stated that Revillame has gone on a three-week leave.

In an interview with Philippine Entertainment Portal, “Wowowee” director and Star Magic head Johnny Manahan spoke up in defense of Revillame. The article noted that Manahan was speaking as a “personal friend and ally” of Revillame and not in an official capacity for the network.

An earlier report on INQUIRER.net said Revillame was “unperturbed” by the online petition calling for his ouster. The petition has gathered 34,020 signatures as of this writing.

According to this column piece on PhilStar.com, Kris Aquino said Revillame has apologized to her and her family, and that for her, “end of story na.”

Meanwhile, on Aug. 7, Aquino family spokesperson Dee Dee Siytangco rebuked Revillame, issuing a statement that said: “It is regrettable and a crass attempt to desecrate the memory of the beloved Tita Cory.”

Another abs-cbnNews.com story dated Aug. 7 reported that Revillame apologized anew, and that the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board was mulling sanctions against Revillame.

On Aug. 6, the Alyansa ng Filipinong Mamamahayag issued a statement against Revillame, condemning his arrogance and calling on the MTRCB to give him “the hardest lesson.”

Will Revillame be returning to “Wowowee,” and will ABS-CBN issue an official statement about his leave?

Stay tuned.

Here’s an excerpt from my latest CNET Asia blog post.

An online petition has been launched urging Philippine broadcast giant ABS-CBN to reprimand Willie Revillame, host of the network’s popular noontime show “Wowowee”.

Filipino viewers and Internet users have been condemning the remarks Revillame made while a video feed of former Philippine President Corazon “Cory” Aquino’s cortege was shown during the “Wowowee” broadcast on Monday, August 3. Here’s a YouTube clip showing Revillame’s reaction.

Read the full story.

Here’s a clip posted on YouTube of Willie Revillame, host of the popular ABS-CBN noontime show “Wowowee,” reacting to the video of former Philippine president Corazon “Cory” Aquino’s cortege.

Aquino’s remains were transferred yesterday from La Salle Greenhills to Manila Cathedral, and thousands of Filipinos lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the procession/convoy and pay their respects. ABS-CBN, which by the way is the “official broadcast partner of the Aquino family,” was covering the cortege on TV and livestreaming it on the Web.

When “Wowowee” started airing, ABS-CBN showed the video of the Aquino cortege as an inset.

Here’s the video on YouTube showing Revillame’s reaction in the middle of interviewing a contestant on the noontime show.

I won’t even say anything. Just watch the video, and you be the judge.

Thanks to Rainier Contreras’ tweet for the heads up on this YouTube clip.

Here’s an excerpt.

Is the Ted Failon case turning into a police overkill? Even the Philippine National Police (PNP) believes it to be so.

The PNP Internal Affairs Service (PNP-IAS) has begun an investigation into the excessive force employed by Quezon City police in arresting ABS-CBN news anchor Ted Failon’s in-laws and household staff in connection with the shooting of Failon’s wife.

Meanwhile, the QC police chief admitted that the cops might have used excessive force, according to this abs-cbnNews.com story.

“Accordingly when I saw the video, it would appear that there was an excessive use of force on the part of the [arresting officers],” Senior Superintendent Elmo San Diego, QCPD chief, told ABS-CBN News Channel.

San Diego said he had ordered the relief of Senior Inspector Rorberto Razon, Senior Police Officer 3 Jose Fernandez and Police Officers 2 Andy Salonga and Reno Riparip, who picked up the siblings of the late Trinidad Arteche-Etong — Pamela Arteche-Trinchera and Maximo Arteche.

Personally, I believe this tragedy has turned into a media circus, and for one my wife and I can’t understand why the cops had to take Trinidad’s kin into custody shortly before she died. Come on, it’s basic human decency — couldn’t the cops wait to invite them for questioning, and allow them to be with Trinidad in her last moments?

How about you, do you feel the police is guilty of overkill?

According to another abs-cbnNews.com report, four of her relatives were taken into custody for questioning shortly before she was pronounced dead.

Click on my previous blog post for more details on the shooting incident.

Let’s pray for her.

Failon was arrested at 12 midnight for allegedly tampering with the evidence.

Here’s an excerpt from the INQUIRER.net Breaking News story.

“[Senior Supt. Franklin Moises] Mabanag said it had not been established if Failon (born Mario Teodoro Failon Etong) was involved but that foul play was not being ruled out.

“We found inconsistencies in his statement and the statement of the maid,” said Mabanag, chief of the QC CIDU. Failon ordered that the bathroom where his bloodied wife was found be cleaned, he said.

And here’s a story on the daughter of Failon claiming that her mom had tried to commit suicide.

Excerpt from the INQUIRER.net Breaking News story.

Amid speculations that news anchor Ted Failon, Teodoro Etong in real life, shot his wife, their daughter on Thursday said her mother tried to kill herself due to financial problems.

“It was a self-inflicted incident. My mother tried to commit suicide by shooting herself in the head,” said Kaye Etong in an interview over dzMM.

What really happened? Hope the investigation will clear things up as soon as possible, and that the culprit/s will not go unpunished.

Here’s an INQUIRER.net VDO clip on the Scene of the Crime Operatives team probing the shooting incident.

(Note: I’ve removed the embedded video. The embed code for the video doesn’t seem to be working as it’s now showing a different video, so kindly just click on the link to the clip.)