MARGAUX CADAO BSN-1

CELEBRITY ISSUES: GOVERNMENT’S WAY OF DIVERTING OUR ATTENTION

FROM NATIONAL ISSUES

Every day as you walk across the street, you can often encounter various Philippine

issues such as corruption, pollution, poverty, and etc., but in this paper the focus is more on

the agricultural, health, and presidential sector in relation to issues arisen from celebrities.

Filipinos are fond of dissecting the life of celebrities. If Filipinos were to choose between

celebrity issues and the country’s issue, most of them would choose celebrity issues. They are

more active and participative when it comes to other people’s problems or issues, celebrities’

in particular, and avoid tackling what is more serious and more important. By celebrity

issues, one example was the latest issue of the Barretto sisters (Rappler, 2019).

Coincidentally, they are closely related with the president. Was their fight orchestrated by

one of their sisters or by the president himself? Was it to divert the people’s attention from

his health? (Madarang, 2019).

Filipinos are known for being happy even in the most difficult times; they take the most

serious problem lightly, and often prolong its resolution to find another problem to mask it

with. Being happy is not a problem, but avoiding a problem is. This particular characteristic

of Filipinos becomes a weakness and can become the government's tool for diversion.

If this problem will continue to exist in the Philippines then, there will be negligence on our

part for not being able to identify what is truly happening around. The government will

continue to use this into their advantage, unless we will soon realize and be awakened from

the state of being passive. If we were to continue to believe and be tricked by being distracted

and active in participating in criticizing other people's lives, then we fail to recognize and
MARGAUX CADAO BSN-1

identify what problem is more deserving of our attention and what needs to be criticized

more. Parties involved in the ignored issue, such as the farmers, will lost their voice, their

scream will be lost in the crowd's diverted attention, and the help that they need from us will

not be delivered (Philippine Daily Inquirer, November).

This problem exists in the agriculture sector, health sector, and the presidential sector itself.

Last month, an issue arisen from a feud of a famous family, the Barrettos, as we actively

embark in the journey and story of their problematic family, we have failed to notice that our

farmers needed us. The price of the palay had hit the lowest in eight years, the farmers

became poorer, even with the president's decision on giving them cash subsidies (Ocampo,

2019). Their palays deserve a price that matches the others. If this problem continues, then

the existing problem, small number of agriculturists in our country, might not be added more

due to the disinterest of the people. Through the Barrettos' hot issue, it seems that we have

forgotten about the polio outbreak that had happened, which is alarming because the disease

is supposed to be non-existent by now, and also it is infectious and can spread all throughout

the country, posing a great problem for those babies that have not received vaccinations

(Assessment Capacities Project, Start Network, 2019). Our president is getting old and as we

all know as people age, the risk of them getting sick is high. Our president have not been

well, and can be seen so during the visit of the Indian president, where he was seen using an

air purifier (Madarang, 2019).

This paper is limited only to the health, agricultural, and presidential aspect of the country's

issues. And the time range is based on the duration of the Barrettos' feud.
MARGAUX CADAO BSN-1

REFERENCES

Assessment Capacities Project, Start Network. (2019, October 15). ACAPS Briefing Note:

Philippines - Polio outbreak (15 October 2019). Retrieved from ACAPS:

https://www.acaps.org/country/philippines/specialreports#container-1337

Madarang, C. R. (2019, October 25). He's using a cane and purifier. Quistions are being

raised about Duterte's health. Retrieved from Interaksyon:

http://www.interaksyon.com/politics-issues/2019/10/25/156676/duterte-health-air-purifier-

japan-visit/

Ocampo, K. R. (2019, October 11). Palay prices hit lowest in 8 years. Retrieved from

Inquirer Business: https://business.inquirer.net/280751/palay-prices-hit-lowest-in-8-years

Philippine Daily Inquirer. (2019, October 17). Inquirer.Net. Retrieved from Inquirer News:

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1178386/central-luzon-farmers-seek-help-as-palay-price-falls

Philippine Daily Inquirer. (November, 24 2019). Save farmer and our farmers. Retrieved

from Inquirer Opinion: https://opinion.inquirer.net/125440/save-farming-and-our-farmers

MARGAUX CADAO BSN-1

Rappler. (2019, October 20). Timeline: The Baretto family feud. Retrieved from Rappler

Entertainment News: https://www.rappler.com/entertainment/news/242916-timeline-barretto-

family-feud