Philippine Popular Culture FINALS

Philippine Popular Culture Module Pre final
Philippine Popular Culture (ACTS Computer College)
Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)
PHILIPPINE POPULAR CULTURE
Course PHILIPPINE POPULAR CULTURE
Title
Course The three- unit subject
Description provides the students with
critical perspectives in
understanding and way of
knowing popular culture in
the Philippines. The course
gives emphasis on popular
culture through the study of
Cultural Studies with a strong
focus on culture industry. The
course provides multi-
disciplinal attention on how
art can be explored in
popular culture and vice
versa. This will take place by
having an introductory
survey on aesthetics, critical
theory, art criticism. This
subject will provide
students
with the necessary tools of
analysis on exploring the
diverse forms of arts by
utilizing the everyday
contexts of power, mode of
production, representations
and subjectivity as critical
tropes. Pop culture will be
fleshed out through mixed
media culture such as
visual culture, radio and
television, fashion, ads,
cyberspace, experience,
economy etc. and look how
these cultural products
intimate the contemporary
social
relations and life-
specifically, the affect,
feelings and senses,
corporeality, performances,
space and place,
technology, globalization
and identities.
Course At the end of the course
Learning that students are expected
Outcome to:
1. Identify popular culture
in
the Philippines;
2. Relate popular culture to
ideology such as feminism
etc;
3. Analyze how art of
singing and dancing
represents pop culture;
4. Evaluate the implications
of popular culture in
certain issues.
Evidence
of
Learning/
Assessmen
t
Tools

Topic Main Topic : Philippine Pop
(Coverage Culture and Experience
) Economy
- Review of Philippine
Pop Culture in Different
Dimensions of Art
Affective and Networks
A. Pinoy Big Brother
: Underlying
Issues

bounded in Philippine
Culture
B. An Overview of the
Mass media situation in
the Philippines by Rene
Guioguio
Body
A. Unbearable Weight
by Susan Bordo
B. The Filipina’s Breast:
Savagery Doctility and
the Erotics of American
Empire
Performance
A. The Philippine Videoke
Phenomenon: Culture ,
Aesthetics and Technology
in Today’s Globalized
Community
B. Meet the Dancing
Inmates of Cebu
Philippines:Where getting
Locked Up Abroad is
laughing Matter.
Target This course is offered to
Participants the second-year students
taking up Bachelor of
Science in
Entrepreneurship
with Specialization in
Microfinance, Bachelor of
Science in Accountancy,
Bachelor of Science in
Accounting Information
System, and Bachelor of
Science in Tourism
Management.
Learning 1.5 hours per module,
Times 3 hours per week

Acquire
(Discussion)
Overview
Pinoy Big Brother Season - Underlying

Issues
Controversies surrounding Pinoy Big
Brother
Like other franchises around the
world, the concept and
implementation of Pinoy Big Brother
has been a subject of controversy
and criticism from the Filipino public
and the news media. Investigations
of some incidents were held by
numerous organizations, including
Endemol, the franchiser of Big
Brother, and TV watchdog MTRCB
since its launch in 2005.
First Edition
On its first week alone, the show
was already given a stern warning
by the Movie and Television Review
and Classification Board (MTRCB),
the

Philippine censoring body for cinema
and television, saying that the show
airs content that is definitely not
suitable for children, such as talk on
contraceptives and very "intimate
scenes". ABS-CBN is reported to
have acknowledged this and had
promised to make an "improved"
show more suitable for younger
audiences in the coming weeks.
As a result, as scenes like these are
unavoidable at times without
interference, each episode begins
with a warning reminding viewers
that some scenes in the show that
are not suitable for young
audiences. In spite of this, though,
the scenes that were deemed to be
way beyond the parental guidance
rating given by the Board were still
shown. In this light, MTRCB ordered
the program suspended for one
episode. As
compliance, the program was not
aired on September 25, 2005, the
day after the 2nd eviction night.
Columnist Nestor U. Torre of the
Philippine Daily Inquirer has also
given a doubtful but optimistic
stance on the show, saying that
while the scenes are chaotic and
challenges in the first week were
way too mundane and cheesy, he is
hopeful that more compelling tasks
would be given to the housemates in
the future and the housemates'
personalities will become clearly
defined.
However, Torre wrote in a later
article that in the first week alone,
the show emphasizes more on
creating controversy (such as sex)
rather than exploiting the potential
psychological factors and
showcasing human nature. Despite
this negative publicity,

ABS-CBN itself has reported that the
show is so well liked that it extended
its run to all seven days a week. In
fact, not only its on-air talents have
defended it, but viewers themselves
(as shown on ABS-CBN programs)
can attest to it. It also inspired the
creation of fansites.
Franzen Fajardo created controversy
when he continuously violated Big
Brother's rules, including mouthing
words to fellow housemate
Cassandra Ponti. Deliberations
between the show producers and
consultants from Endemol over the
mouthing of words resulted in a
decision to evict him on Day 86.
However, Ponti offered to voluntarily
exit to keep Fajardo inside; Big
Brother considered her offer and let
the public choose Fajardo's fate. The
next day, however, voting was
stopped and his forced eviction was
finalized after he violated the rules
again by discussing with fellow
housemate Jason Gainza his last
chat with Big Brother inside the
confession room. He eventually left
the house on Day 91.
Around September 2005, rumors
circulated through email which
claimed that Uma Khouny,
Cassandra Ponti, and Sam Milby
were just hired by the show and did
not audition for it at all. Uma himself
stated in one episode that he made
the cut for the show through the
assistance of network official Linggit
Tan. To prove these rumors wrong,
the show actually aired some footage
that the three indeed auditioned.
The existence of the "Youth Alliance
of the Philippines," which created the
e-mail, was never determined.

A Philippine Daily Inquirer article
published in early 2006 said that
both Uma Khouny and Sam Milby
were reportedly fined by the
Department of Labor and
Employment for failing to get an
Alien Employment Permit, a special
permit permitting non-resident
foreigners to work in the Philippines,
before actually participating in the
show. Fines of PHP10,000 and PHP
40,000 were respectively meted on
Uma, an Israeli, and Sam, an
American. However, the article said
that Uma applied for his permit after
the end of the first season.
There have been allegations saying

that the melody of Pinoy Ako has
been plagiarized from the song
Chandeliers by 80s British band
Care.

Orange and Lemons and the song's
composer Jonathan Manalo claim
that while Orange and Lemons may
have been influenced by British
rock, they stressed that the two
songs are completely different from
each other and assured that Pinoy
Ako is a completely original one.
[clarification needed] However,
musical correspondent Giselle Roque
(who has connections to Care)
claims in a separate article that
Orange and Lemons and Manalo
were "pressured" to come up with a
theme song for the show within a
week, hence the creation of Pinoy
Ako which is very similar to
Chandeliers. BMG Music, who own
the rights to Care's Diamonds And
Emeralds album from which
Chandeliers came from is yet to
issue a statement or take legal
actions if it so warrants.
Celebrity Edition 1
The show was supposed to be
launched on February 4, 2006, but
the management postponed it to the
following day, February 5 because of
the fallout following the Wowowee
ULTRA stampede. The incident
resulted in host Willie Revillame
resigning from the show; Luis
Manzano taking over his spot.
On Day 12, Angela Calina voluntarily
exited the house as soon as she
received news that her apartment
unit in Cebu had been burglarized.
She left the game to attend to her
daughter, whom she knew was in
danger when the incident happened.
As a result, voting for the nominees
for that week was suspended.
On February 21, 2006, Gretchen
Malalad left the house after Big

Brother allowed her to report to her
superiors in the Philippine Air Force,
where she holds the rank of
airwoman second-class, to face a
summary investigation about her
being AWOL. He did this in the
proviso that she cannot talk to
anyone except those who were
investigating her and she must return
to the house 24 hours after she left.
She returned 14 hours later after
the Air Force command officially
authorized her to continue her stint
in the show.
For the first time in Philippine
television history, housemate
Rustom Padilla admitted his
homosexuality to fellow housemate
Keanna Reeves. This event was
featured in Big Brother UK's Big
Brother Around the World, a special
show highlighting notable events
from other foreign editions of
the franchise. It was aired before
Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack.
Teen Edition 1
Since the show started, Aldred
Gatchalian had a difficult time
adjusting to his new environment
and new housemates and he never
resolved his problems, resolving to
make his voluntary exit on Day 7.
Two days later, new housemate
Joaqui Mendoza took his place. It
was widely speculated before he left
that Aldred was underaged, hence
his voluntary exit. However, in his
first interview a week after his exit,
he stated that he left because of
homesickness and the pressure to fit
in.
Season 2
Film director Jose Javier Reyes, who
previously sat in as one of the jurors
in Pinoy Dream Academy, lambasted
the program, stating the show
wanted to bring "everyone who had
a face and a body." Reyes added
that the program was a boot camp
for Philippines' Next Top Model,
exhibited disturbing behavior from
certain housemates, and describing
the challenges as "meaningless." He
concluded that the whole ordeal was
an audition for a new Star Cinema
film or for an episode of the
Maalaala Mo Kaya drama series. In
reaction, the show's director,
Laurenti Dyogi, defended the
program by giving clarifications on
certain issues presented by Reyes,
especially the fact that housemates
actually learn something, citing Nel
Rapiz' atonement of not urinating in
a public
place again. But Dyogi admitted that
there is no way to please all of
them, especially on their sensibilities.
In fact, Dyogi divulged that Reyes
already told ABS-CBN about his
article even before it was published.
In a March 22, 2007 memorandum,
MTRCB took the network to task for
airing the "naughty actuations" of
Dionne Monsanto. Board chairman
Consoliza Laguardia said Dionne
"inserted her hands in the
underwear" of Ezekiel Dimaguila in
the March 20, 2007 episode, with the
show management invited to a
meeting on March 27, 2007 at the
board's office in Quezon City. As a
result of the hearing, director
Laurenti Dyogi, stated in his letter to
the Board the same day that the
network would issue an apology to
viewers who may have been
offended by Dionne's behavior and
will continue to keep tabs on her.
Show host Toni Gonzaga apologized
on behalf of the management on the
episode aired a few hours after the
meeting. Big Brother also ordered
Dionne to stay away from Dimaguila
from March 28 to March 31.
On Day 63, Bea Saw and Maricris
Dizon were caught up in a heated
argument after the latter suspected
the former's feelings for fellow
housemate Nel Rapiz. Bea denied
any accusations. Maricris, not
content with her answers, started to
make threatening remarks against
Bea. The two did not end their
conversation well and the following
day, Dizon was ejected from the
House after making threatening
remarks to the housemates.

Pinoy Big Brother and Big Brother
Slovenia agreed on a swap where
their respective housemates, Bruce
Quebral and Tina Semolič, were to
participate. While Tina left the
Philippines without much incident,
Bruce was the topic of discrimination
by Slovenian housemates Miha and
Pero. Their inappropriate remarks
did not sit well with their fellow
housemates and the audience. Pero
was forcibly evicted over his actions,
including holding a knife in a
threatening manner, and Miha was
automatically nominated for the fifth
eviction round, along with nominees
Jasmin and Sonja.
Days' after Nel Rapiz' eviction from
the House on June 23, 2007, an e-
mail coming from an "MA Masscom
graduate" who claimed to work for
the show as a "conceptualizer"
surfaced. The author, who was said
to be involved in the voting
procedure, divulged that on the
night in question, Wendy Valdez was
in fact the lowest vote-earner, but
she was not evicted because
"administrators" wanted her
relationship with Bruce Quebral "to
give it one last shot." The author
also allegedly helped in handling the
auditions by determining the fates of
each housemates with assistance
from "talent auditors." The show
production team denounced the
claims, stating that no
conceptualizers and talent auditors
exist in the show since the show's
concept is already created in the
Netherlands, where the franchise
originated. Furthermore, no
conceptualizer was involved in the
screening process, which selected
the Top 30 candidates to be
screened for the show, not the Top
100 as the e-

mail claimed. The staff stated that
the entire tabulation of votes was
done electronically and it is closely
monitored by a third-party
accounting firm since the start of
the open voting, the results of which
are totally unpredictable. In fact,
they stated that Nel and Bruce were
really the lowest vote earners and
the trend did not change when
Bruce was evicted three days after
Nel. Furthermore, the e-mail
referred to show director Laurenti
Dyogi as "Direk Dyogi," not "Direk
Lauren" or "LMD," as those who are
involved in the show call him.
While these rumors and criticisms
persisted, Wendy eventually reached
the final four which further sparked
speculations of conspiracy and put
final voting results questionable.

Consequently, she ended up in third
place instead.
Celebrity Edition 2
There had been early reports that
Ethel Booba wanted to back out
days before the launch. She said
that she might not be psychologically
fit for the show. On Day 4, after
much persuasion, she went in.
However, she would complain about
the nature of the show. Until she left
the house along with Mcoy Fundales
on Day 40. However, on Day 56,
she expresses her willingness to
return. Her plea was granted on Day
59 but only as a house guest. She
exited the House on Day 77.
The housemates were assigned to
create a 15-minute video as part of
their sixth weekly task.
Unfortunately, Big Brother accused
Mcoy Fundales of
plagiarism because of the script he
made that was similar to The Ghost
of August Mayford by Troy Taylor.
Fundales stated that the script was
original. After much pressure about
the issue, he left the house on Day
40 together with Ethel Booba.
During the Über broadcast the next
day, Big Brother apologized for any
misunderstanding from the incident.
Laurenti Dyogi, the show's director,
stated that Big Brother's intention
was to clarify to Fundales if he will
be willing to be held liable for any
copyright complaint after the film
had been shown on television.
On Day 66, Yayo Aguila left the Big
Brother House because of news that
her mother was hospitalized due to
a heart ailment. Yayo went to the
hospital only to find that her mother
had died. After the funeral of
her
mother on Day 70, Aguila expressed
her intention of coming back as a
competing housemate. With only
two weeks left in its extended run,
Endemol gave four conditions, one
being that one of the remaining
housemates give up their stint.
Gaby de la Merced wanted to
volunteer but the fourth condition
said that an overnight poll would
take place on who should stay
between de la Merced and Aguila.
The housemate leaving would
receive PHP400,000, extracted from
the final four's cash prizes as a
supposed donation to Aguila's
family. Aguila was reunited with the
housemates but it was only short-
lived as she was placed in the public
vote against de la Merced. She was
evicted on Day 71.
On Day 60, Baron Geisler got drunk
and started flirting with the female
housemates and making insulting
remarks to Big Brother. The male
housemates were ordered to put
Baron in a secret room for him to
sober up. He promised that it will
not happen again but he went out of
control again on Day 73, in the wee
hours of Christmas. Geisler was
forcibly evicted on Day 75.
As part of the tests given to the
housemates on the final week, on
Day 77, they were asked who
among them does not deserve to
make it to the finals as part of the
mock nomination round, to which
the housemates didn't answer. After
much hinting from Big Brother, the
housemates nominated each other,
with Jon Avila nominating Gaby dela
Merced and Riza Santos. The
following day, Avila admitted to
making a remark saying, "Is
everyone thinking
what I’m thinking? Five medallions are
here. And we’re five here", that
influenced his fellow housemates'
choices. After further consideration
with Endemol, Avila was forcibly
evicted on Day 81.
Teen Edition Plus
There had been speculations that
the voting was manipulated during
the finals. The management and
Endemol made a joint statement on
June 13, 2008 that the voting was
fair and no manipulation took place.
Double Up
In a confession room session on
October 7, 2009, JP Lagumbay
learned that his employer did not
approve his leave, which he filed to
appear on the show. He was ordered
to report back to work by 8AM the
following day or he could face

sanctions. JP eventually left the
House in the wee hours.
During a live show on Day 7, Cathy
was introduced as a new housemate
wearing a nurses uniform as a
costume for the Halloween-themed
show. The Philippine Nurses
Association sent a protest against
Remperas, saying that her act
destroyed the image of a nurse. The
show apologized for any
misunderstanding and explained
that the housemates should wear a
costume as part of the live show.
After the House Battle on the sixth
week, Tom Mott punched the
Activity Hall's wall. Although he
claimed that it was a result of
frustration as a result of losing the
House Battle and falling ill hours
before, the other housemates
deemed it as threatening behavior.
Tom was allowed to go to the
hospital to consult with a doctor.
However, despite getting back inside
before the 24-hour window lapsed,
Mott was forcibly evicted over the
destruction of Big Brother's property
and left on Day 42.
Rica Paras, the franchise's first
transgender housemate, was the
subject of bullying by housemates
Hermes Bautista, Yuri Okawa, Rocky
Salumbides, Mariel Sorino, Rob
Stumvoll and Patrick Villanueva,
with Salumbides made adding
derogatory remarks, such as Paras
being a "she- man." The Society of
Transsexual Women of the
Philippines (STRAP), where Paras is
vice-chairman, released an official
statement about the events on their
official website. Big Brother ordered
the housemates involved to
apologize for their
behavior. Despite what happened,
the show received a Sybil Award
from STRAP on May 22, 2010,
because of its openness towards
transgender people.
As part of the Three Kings task, Tibo
Jumalon wore a bahag, a garment
worn by Philippine indigenous
groups, particularly Aetas,
Mangyans and Dumagats, to teach
the value of frugality of clothing.
This called the attention of the
Katribu, a party representing
indigenous peoples in Congress,
because of Jumalon's inappropriate
way of wearing the bahag. Partylist
president Beverly Longid said,
While we understand that the intent
of its use is to promote certain
moral values, we believe it
diminished the cultural symbolism
and importance of
the indigenous garb ... Any
inappropriate use of our culture not
only offends our sensitivities but
also demeans the integrity of our
customs and traditions, which we
passionately defend together with
our rights to ancestral land and self-
determination.
She called the show producers to
teach the proper way of wearing the
garment. The show production staff
later responded and said
We apologize if our housemate was
unable to strictly follow the
guidelines but rest assured that, at
this moment, measures are
underway to correct that matter ...
it did not intend to offend the
sensitivities and customs of the
indigenous people in any way.
Accusations of vote rigging were
brought against the show when Melai
Cantiveros emerged as the Big
Winner,

in which some viewers contended
that the reveal of the partial results
for the final four housemates prior
to the Big Night was done to favor
Cantiveros who was trailing behind
Paul Jake Castillo. Both Castillo and
the Pinoy Big Brother management
denied the accusations.
Teen Clash 2010

On April 27, 2010, Eslove Briones
was meted a forced eviction after he
played with a knife and pointing it at
Tricia Santos, though done jokingly,
per a rule allowing such punishment
immediately if the housemate
committed violent acts or has the
tendency to do so. He later
threatened her about doing the
stabbing act again, especially when
Tricia complained to Big Brother
through the house cameras about
his actions. In one episode, Big
Brother first shown the video
footage of the incident to fellow
housemate, Joe, who reacted that
Eslove's actions were not a joke, but
rather a serious matter.
Housemates Ivan Dorschner and
Ann Li shared an intimate kiss in a
game of Spin the Bottle on May 26,
2010. Live feed subscribers
witnessed the incident and clips of
this scene circulated around
Facebook and YouTube. Big Brother
called all housemates to the
confession room about the matter.
The scene was not broadcast on
television as it would attract the
MTRCB, who are strict in terms of
certain acts concerning
teens.Reports further stated that not
only Dorschner and Li did the act
but so did other housemates.
Unlimited
During Team High-Voltage's eighth
weekly task, in which they would
have to produce a news program for
the whole week, Wendy Tabusalla
reported that a certain housemate,
later identified as Joseph Biggel, was
lying about his "first-time" experiences,
such as eating ice cream and
swimming in a pool. His "first-time"
frenzies created a buzz on social
media sites and forums prior to
Tabusalla's reporting; various
photos and videos that debunked
Biggel's claims surfaced. Many
people believed that he did it to get
sympathy from the viewers. Big
Brother ordered Biggel to explain
the photos and videos. Show
psychologist
Randy Dellosa said Biggel
experienced selective amnesia, in
which a person forgets one
particular moment in their life.
Biggel was found to have fudged
over details of his family past, which
later resulted in his father hanging
up on him three days before the
finale.
Despite the controversy, Biggel was
given a segment in the fourth teen
edition's Über afternoon show,
paying homage to his "first-time"
antics when he was still in the House.
Teen Edition 4
There have been reports saying that
housemate Kit Thompson is said to
be older than his presented age,
which is 15, even surpassing the
show's age limit, which is only 13 to
17 years old.
During the week-long interlude
between the Unlimited finale and

Teen Edition 4's opening night,
senior members of the production
staff stated via Twitter about the
confidentiality of potential
housemates being very important in
the show, implying that at least one
shortlisted housemate has been sent
home just as all other confirmed
housemates were already isolated
ahead of the launch. This was a
result of pictures of possible
housemates making rounds online
just after a teaser video was shown
in the Unlimited finale. Some of the
"rumored" housemates were later
confirmed on opening night and the
introduction show for a second batch
of housemates on Day 2. Though
lists and pictures of rumored
housemates - some of which are
confirmed - have been spreading
since the franchise's launch,[citation
needed it is the first
time the staff announced a
disqualification among possible
housemates to be made public.
A video was made days before
opening night wherein Ryan Boyce
explained his rationale for joining the
show. He also mentioned certain legs
of the audition process, which is a
violation of show rules against
discussing such matters outside of
production. Although it was
supposedly made by Boyce's friends
for private viewing by family
members, the video appeared for a
short time on the video-sharing site
Vimeo after he entered the house.
Only a few weeks into the show,
several housemates were a subject
of several romantic issues: Mariz
being given a marriage proposal
prior to entering in the House, Alec
kissing Jai
"accidentally", Yves forgetting his
girlfriend outside the House and
chooses to be with Myrtle and
formation of various love teams and
triangles. Several Filipino celebrities,
including Vice Ganda and host John
Prats, expressed their shock with
how quick today's teenagers fall in
love, with Vice Ganda coining the
meme "PBB Teens?".
All In
The Philippine Commission on
Women called the attention of
MTRCB to review an episode aired
June 4, 2014 where Jayme Jalandoni
was asked if she wanted to pose
nude for a painting, as part of their
sixth weekly task. Jalandoni was
hesitant about the challenge at first
but she accepted after being given
some time to think about it.
According to
the PCW, there is nothing wrong
with women posing nude, so long as
it is her free choice to do so. They
added that the show violated her
freedom of thought, conscience and
belief, stating that "Big Brother's
exercise of authority over her is
evidently suggestive; placing the
female contestant under pressure
amid the latter’s rejection of the
challenge." They cited Section 19 of
the Implementing Rules and
Regulations of the Magna Carta of
Women as stating that media
organizations should not induce,
encourage, and/or condone violence
against women in any form and/or
in the violation of their human
rights. Pia Cayetano, principal
author of the Magna Carta of
Women, commented the event as
tantamount to coercion.
Menerva Espanta
spokesperson for the Kabataang
Artista para sa Tunay na Kalayaan
(Young Artists for True Freedom)
talent advocacy group, also
commented on an episode where
three of the housemates' mothers
were tasked to clean the rooms of
housemates, branding the show as
anti-women, stating "The show
reinforces how society treats women
and their role in society. That they
are simply meant for housework
and/or
sexual entertainment disguised as

art. Art should be reflective of
society and challenge it. PBB has
used art as a justification for
treating a woman like a commodity
in a show which targets a young
audience."
Lucky 7
On an episode that aired on August
12, 2016, housemates were seen

laughing at an undergarment owned
by housemate Rita Gaviola, a
member of the Badjao ethnic group.
The housemates apologized for their
actions after. Albay representative
Joey Salceda calls Department of
Social Welfare and Development
(DSWD), Movie and Television
Review and Classification Board
(MTRCB), and the National
Commission on Indigenous Peoples
(NCIP) to step in on the incident,
saying that some discrimination
happened against the Badjaos.
Salceda added:
From the start, PBB should have
been structured to prevent its
occurrence. Treatment of indigenous
peoples is too delicate for a 'role
playing-cum- confession room'
context. It may address the direct
participants but what about millions
who watch the
violation but failed for some reason
to watch the episode of correction.
MTRCB called for a meeting about
the incident, citing factors like Rita's
age and her role as a representative
of an indigenous group as valid
reasons for the conference.
An Overview of the Mass Media

Situation in the Philippines
By: Dr. Reynaldo Guioguio
The Philippines boasts a rowdy and
vibrant press that likes to think of
itself as the freest in Asia. With

the fall of the Marcos regime in
1986, a 14-year-old system of
media controls collapsed overnight.
Into
that vacuum rushed dozens of new
newspapers and radio and television
stations as old Marcos controlled
media outlets folded or were taken
over by the new government. A
pluralistic, but somewhat
anarchic, media industry came into
being. There is strong popular
support for a free media among
Filipinos. In part, this is because of a
tradition of a fighting, anti-colonial
press. Successive waves of
coloniser: the Spaniards, the
Americans, and the Japanese during
World War II, used the press in pursuit
of the colonial agenda and imposed
stringent censorship. However, a
series of anti-colonial movements

also employed clandestine
newspapers in their fight against the
colonial masters. To this day, the
samizdat tradition remains strong,
with anti-government groups
continuing to publish underground
papers or, since the Internet,
putting up guerrilla Websites. The
Philippine media are the products of
a
turbulent history, reflecting the
upheavals and changes that have
shaken the country since the advent
of
colonialism in the 16th century.
They have been shaped by a
succession of colonial regimes,
which
implanted in the Philippines a press
system much like those in the
United States. The aspirations and
ambitions of the Filipino elites also
moulded the media.
The following general patterns can
be observed in the evolution of the
Philippine mass media. First,
newspapers, radio and television
have long been privately owned,
and have developed into very
market oriented media. Most of the
time, they are devoted to tabloid
and sensational reporting, and they
are
mostly closely connected with large
and diversified corporations and
these have at times put limits on
what got reported. Second, in the
face of attempts by powerful groups
including politicians to control
the media, particularly through
bribery of media practitioners
and/or threatening the businesses of
media
owners there is always the counter
balance of middle-class and
"intelligent" audiences that demand
better mainstream coverage. In
short, the media, in order to
compete and become economically
viable
have been forced by their audiences
to adopt a much more critical
stance, and this opened the way for
independent journalism to emerge
and for journalists and media
practitioners to be sensitive to public
opinion.
Radio and Television
In the Philippines, radio has the
biggest audience among all the
mass media (85 per cent), followed
by
television (74 per cent) and print
(32 per cent). Philippine radio today
has become a huge, thriving
industry. There are as of 2006 at
least 971 radio stations --- 375 AM
and 596 FM. This is an increase of

276 radio stations within the span of
eight years from 1998 to 2006 (last
available figures from the
National Telecommunications
Commission). Of these, 51 radio
stations or less than 10 percent fall
within the categories of educational,
government, military and religious.
Radio ownership nationwide
is estimated at 86%; in Metro Manila,
9 out of 10 households own a radio
set.
Noteworthy is the fact that there are
fifty radio stations in the Metro
Manila area, indicating
overcrowding and fierce competition
for the limited advertising pie. No
other metropolitan area in Asia
is likely to have this many radio
stations. The biggest concentration
of radio stations is in Luzon with

40 percent, followed by Mindanao
with 35 percent and Visayas with 25
percent. Another characteristic
of Philippine radio is that majority of
the stations belong to a single
corporation or broadcst network,
indicating media power
concentration in the hands of a few
corporations. The biggest is Radio
Mindanao
Network with thirty nine radio
stations today, an increase from
thirty four since 1998. The second
and
third largest networks are the
government-operated Philippine
Broadcasting Service with thirty three
stations and GMA Network with
thirty two stations
For television, there are 100 stations
throughout the country, 12 are in
Metro Manila. Among the biggest

national stations are the ABS-CBN
Broadcasting Company Channel 2
with 26 affiliates nationwide and
GMA Network Channel 7 with 42
affiliates nationwide (as of 2009).
Satellite and cable technologies
have virtually made universal access
to broadcast media possible. For
example, ABS-CBN television
reaches approximately 90 percent of
the population. The network is
linked with the Pan American
Satellite (PANAMSAT), which
provides its program to all cable
operators and direct-to-home
markets
within the satellite's footprint.
Through a cable television system, it
can reach Filipino communities in
the San Francisco Bay Area of the
United States. Similarly, GMA Radio
Television Arts Network

reaches the entire country through
its thirty stations nationwide.
Filipinos in Southeast Asia, Hawaii,
Guam, Saipan, Canada, and the
United States can tune in to GMA-7,
either through Mabuhay satellite
or cable television systems.
UHF television broadcasting is also
fairly strong with such channels as
Southern Broadcasting Network
(SBN Channel 21) and Molave
Broadcasting Network (Channel 23)
which were the first commercial
stations to broadcast on the UHF
band in 1992. SBN 21 features
"global¬oriented" program from the
World TV a local VHF channel, while
Channel 23 carries MTV
programming as received via
satellite
from Hong Kong's Star TV. Others
followed after the initial success of
these stations: Byers
Communications Channel 68
became the first Pay-TV channel;
Rajah Broadcasting TV 29 the first
home shopping channel; and Radio
Mindanao Network Channel 31 the
first all-movie channel. There
are also two UHF stations in Baguio
City and Cebu City.
The most phenomenal growth,
however, has been in cable
television.
The growth of early cable
television, introduced in 1969, was
stunted during the Marcos regime,
because of a decree granting
exclusive franchise to a business ally
of the former president to install and
operate cable TV nationwide.
This decree was abolished by
President Aquino in 1987. The
introduction of satellite
programming by

TV networks ABS-CBN and GMA in
1991 spurred interest in cable
television. Provincial community
antenna TV (CA TV) systems have
been set up to receive broadcast
signals from stations originating in
Manila. Metro Manila based on 2009
data is one of the most advanced
urban centers in Asia with respect
to cable TV where two major cable
systems, Skycable and Home Cable,
offer sixty channels or more.
There is no public broadcasting
service in the Philippines. Instead,
the country has the Philippine
Broadcasting Service - a State-
owned radio with 31 radio stations
nationwide—and the National
Broadcasting Network Channel 4, a
State-owned television network.
Both operate under the Office of

Press Secretary. Government
broadcasts however, are perceived
as the propaganda arm of the state
and
suffer in terms of viewership, having
the lowest audience share in the
market.
The two biggest media networks are
owned by companies of wealthy
families. ABS-CBN is owned by
the Lopez family and the GMA
network by the Gozon-Duavit-
Jimenez family. ABS-CBN is a
multimedia company that has aside
from owning TV stations all over the
country, also has 20 FM and
nine AM radio stations, and
subsidiaries and affiliates in
video/audio postproduction, film
production

and distribution, and audio
recording and distribution. It runs a
cable TV network and is a cable TV
and
Internet provider. Furthermore, it
owns a number of magazines and
printing press. The GMA Television
Network is also a multimedia
company, and has subsidiaries and
affiliates in film production and
distribution, music and video
production, FM and AM radio radio
stations and Internet-based
distribution sites.
In recent years, radio has also been
one arena where media power has
been rigorously exercised. The
“public service programme” which
allows listeners to call in to complain
about a problem in their
neighbourhood has become deeply
rooted in the Philippine media.
These programmes provide airtime
for public criticism of government
officials, even debating with them
when the latter call to defend
themselves, and demanding
explanations and quick action. They
serve to persuade government
agencies,
mired in bureaucratic inaction, into
doing their jobs. In this sense these
programmes, like much of the
Philippine media, are monitoring the
government to ensure that the
system somehow works.
Another public service station, ANC
Cable Channel 21 which belongs to
the ABS-CBN media group,
because of its 24-hour news format,
has also made its mark in its
extensive coverage of public
hearings
of Congress and other live news
events and thus establishing an

immediate and proximate link
between
events and Filipino audiences
nationwide. The role of ANC in the
exposure of corruption and
malfeasance by members of the
Arroyo government in
Congresseional hearings have been
instrumental
in bringing down the weight of
public opinion against President
Arroyo and making her one of the
most
unpopular presidents since the
establishment of the Philippine
Republic in 1946.
Print
Philippine print media might be
categorized into two: the
metropolitan press, printed and
circulated
mainly in Metro Manila, and the
community press, based and
disseminated largely in the
provinces.

Sometimes newspapers in the
provinces are referred to as the
provincial press, or local press, but
the
term more commonly accepted and
used by Filipino journalists is
community press. The term rural press
is generally eschewed in the
Philippines because strictly speaking
there is no rural press here. There is
a metropolitan press, composed of
thirty dailies (twelve broadsheets
and eighteen tabloids), four weekly
newspapers, and forty-one
magazines, at least two-thirds of
whose circulation is in Metro Manila.
The
30 daily newspapers have a claimed
circulation of approximately
7,286,274, and only about 30
percent
of this circulation goes to the
province. Then there is the community
press, 552 local publications

circulated mainly in the small cities
and big towns (as of 2005). In the
provinces, there are 55 dailies,
44 weeklies and the rest coming out
less often than once a week. Beyond
these big towns, usually the
provincial capitals, there are
practically no print media in
circulation.
There are thirty dailies in Metro
Manila as of 2005, a decline from fifty
in 1998.
Of this total, twelve
are broadsheets and eighteen are
tabloids. There was a brief period in
the decade of the 1990s, after the
press had just regained its freedom
after fourteen years of Martial Law,
when dailies proliferated. It was
a period of a free, licentious and
rambunctious press. But it looks like
the press has settled down and the

number of dailies has stabilized into
less than half of that number.
Perhaps the laws of economics are
beginning to catch up. Media
scholars have always argued that
Manila, like most big cities in the
world,
can support only so many
newspapers profitably; perhaps not
more than six.
Of the thirty dailies in the Greater
Manila Area today, nine broadsheets
are published in English and
three in Chinese, while seventeen
tabloids are in Filipino and two in
English. This indicates that the
broadsheets are the quality papers
that cater to the English-educated
elites and middle class of Philippine
society, while the tabloids cater to
the blue collar, less-educated
readers. Total claimed circulation of

the 30 Metro Manila dailies and 1
weekly was at 7,453,272 in 2005,
not much more than the 7,011,056
circulation of the 50 dailies in 1998
(Philippine Media Factbook, 2005
and 1998). So while the average
circulation of the dailies has
increased from 140,221 in 1998 to
240,428 in 2005, according to the
newspaper claims, the total
circulation of daily newspapers has
not increased that much. There are
about
half a million more Filipino
newspaper readers today, a decade
later, while the population has
increased
by more than ten million for the
same period.
Of the total Metro Manila broadsheet
and tabloid daily circulation
of7,453,272, about two-thirds,

according to industry estimates,
remains in Metro Manila, and one-
third goes to the provinces. This
would be about 4,919,158 copies for
about 10 million people in the
Greater Manila Area, or a diffusion
rate of about one newspaper copy
for every two persons. This is a high
diffusion rate, comparable to
that in Japan, the highest in the
world. But the newspaper readership
in the provinces is very much
lower. Although the print media is
positioned at the third place among
the mass media (after radio and
TV), it has an 82 per cent reach in
Metropolitan Manila, which has a
population of some 10 million and
is the country’s business, political
and cultural centre. Print media may
thus be surmised to be as

influential in the capital as
television, which has a reach of 96
per cent among residents.
English is the predominant language
in both the national and community
press, although some
community newspapers were being
published in two (English and
Filipino, the national language) or
even three (English, Filipino and a
local language) languages. The
national newspapers print between
only 10,000 and 400,000 copies
daily, while the print run of the
community newspapers ranges from
a
low of 50 copies to a high of
45,000.. The Philippine Daily
Inquirer or The Inquirer, is the most
widely
read broadsheet newspaper in the
Philippines, with a daily circulation
of 260,000 copies—a 52-per cent
share of total circulation of
broadsheets in the country. Other
big newspapers are the Manila
Bulletin,
the Philippine Star, Manila Times
and Business World. A problem for
the reach of the growth of print
media is the country’s functional
literacy rate. According to the
results of the last Functional
Literacy,
Education and Mass Media Survey,
about 48.4 million or 84 per cent of
the population aged 10-64 years
old are functionally literate which
means that a substantial number of
Filipinos (about 16 percent) cannot
access newspapers.
Electronic media: Internet
The Philippines was linked to the
Internet only in March 1994, when
the term Internet was already a

byword in Europe and the United
States. Much of the credit for this
goes to the. Philippine Network
Foundation (PHNET), a group
created with the support of the
Department of Science and
Technology
(DOST). The original members of
PHNET were the University of the
Philippines Diliman, University
of the Philippines Los Baiios, Ateneo
de Manila University and De La Salle
University (http://
www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.ht
m#asia. 2007). PHNET set up the
countrywide computer network
in two phases. Phase 1 began in July
1993 and linked DOST, UP Diliman,
UP Los Baiios, Ateneo de
Manila and De La Salle University.
Phase 2 expanded the network to
twenty members, including the

University of Santo Tomas, University of
San Carlos, St. Louis University,
Xavier University, and
Industrial Research Foundation
(http://www.ph.net/about.htm.
2007).
In 1996, two years after the
introduction of the Internet, the
Philippines had an estimated 40,000
Filipinos using it. The number grew
to 2,000,000 in 2000, and to
7,820,000 in
2007. About half of the
Internet users are in Metro Manila
where only 13 percent of the
population lives. The fast increase in
the number of Internet users could
be attributed to the increase in the
number of commercial Internet
Service Providers, the rise in
telephone penetration, the lowering
cost. of personal computers,
increase
in computer literacy, and greater
affordability of Internet access.
Although telephone penetration was
low for a long time because of the
monopoly by the Philippine Long
Distance Telephone Co., Internet
Service Providers (ISP) together
with other entrepreneurs put up
shared facilities and networked
computers typically hooked up via
dial phone lines to ISPs, commonly
referred to as Internet cafes.
Most of the slow dial phone Internet
connections were eventually
replaced with broadband
connections
in a few years.
Today there are as many as 5,000
Internet cafes in the Philippines,
according to industry estimates. They

are patronized mainly by students
and most of them are located
outside Manila. Through these
Internet
cafes, Internet access is made more
affordable for students and young
people. As of 2006, the Philippines
had more than thirty known online
news publications, although some
had been inactive for some time.
This figure includes only those that
provide news as their main service,
ranging from online versions of
print newspapers to online daily
newspapers, online weekly
newspapers, online news
magazines, and
online newspaper-television joint
ventures. Many of them are based in
Metro Manila; the others are in
the provinces. INQ7.net, a joint
venture of a television network
(GMA 7) and a major national daily
(Philippine Daily Inquirer), claims
the biggest readership.
News Coverage
After the 1986 People Power
Revolution, there has been
significant growth in the coverage of
environmental and women’s issues,
science and technology, civil society
and many areas that had
previously either been ignored or
only marginally covered. Before the
declaration of martial law in 1972,
there was at best minimal reporting
on the environment, virtually
nothing on human rights, and no
mention at all of women’s and
gender issues.

The attention given to
underreported and unreported
subjects resulted from an increased
awareness
amongst journalists after 1986 that
these previously neglected areas
were crucial to an understanding of
events in the country. As a result of this
neglect, Filipinos had a distorted
sense of what was going on
concerning such issues. The media
attention that they now receive is
one of the major achievements in
the history of the Philippine media
over the last 15 years. This focus
has encouraged a new mind-set,
now concerned with what is current
and relevant. It has led to some
exceptional reporting on issues
including information technology
and government performance, areas
critical to Philippine life in the
21st century.
A statement from Lin Neuman of the
Center to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
perhaps best describes the
current situation of the media in the
Philippines: "The best of the
contemporary Philippine media are
very good and remain a bastion of
muckraking courage. Public issues
are widely discussed in print and
broadcast media, and there is
almost no official control. Unlike
most Asian countries, it is unheard
of
for the Philippine government to
successfully keep embarrassments
and flaws out of the media. But the
damage done by Marcos' martial law
remains. By dismantling the
structure of the press built up over
previous decades, Marcos weakened
the professionalism and ultimately
politicized the media to a

staggering degree. Sadly, corruption
in the media is common. Salaries
are low and businesses and
politicians often buy favorable
coverage. Some radio commentators
use their microphones to peddle
influence, and the military has also
used radio journalists to foment
unrest against communist and
Muslim insurgents."
Despite the progress achieved by
media, there are still many areas
where it has not been able to
provide
a fair and balanced coverage,
including economic, ethnic and
regional issues. The lack of
professionalism of some journalists, the
politicisation of the media, lack of
pluralism, and hate speech
are amongst the challenges faced by
the media in the Philippines. These
are in effect linked with other
problems such as attacks against
and murder of journalists.
A content analysis by the Centre for
Media Freedom and Responsibility
(CMFR) revealed the imbalance
in news coverage of the country:
only three of the 11 newspapers
examined—the Manila Bulletin, the
Philippine Daily Inquirer, and the
Star—have a special section for
provincial news. Among them, only
the Bulletin has a special page
devoted to the three major islands—
Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. The
other two papers alternate the
regions in one provincial section.
Sheila Coronel in her article
“Philippine
media: Free but not Diverse” stated
that regions where the poorest
Filipinos reside are rarely covered in

the news, nor are they represented
in much of television
programming.
News about the most
impoverished provinces in the
country is rare, except when chaos
or calamity strikes…” News about
minority groups is also lacking.
The sensationalism, inaccuracies
and other unprofessional practices
of the Philippine media have
become so pronounced that they
have encouraged calls for the
regulation of the press, sometimes
by
journalists themselves, despite the
protection of the 1987 Constitution’s
Article III. So far these calls
have not prevailed because the
media and its civil society allies, as
well as liberal politicians, have
resisted efforts to institute
government regulation of the media.
Like their counterparts in most other
countries, the Philippine mass media
are first of all commercial
enterprises controlled by political
and economic interest groups. As
commercial enterprises, they are
focused on profitability, or at least
the minimisation of losses, which at
the outset creates a conflict
between the private interests of the
mass media and their public service
function. Among other
consequences, the commercial
imperative has driven the mass
media to sensationalism,
emphasising
what will sell newspapers or boost
ratings, and into the suppression or
slanting of news unfavourable to
the interests that control the media.
In the aftermath of the 1986 People
Power uprising which ousted
President Ferdinand Marcos a
restoration of press freedom took
place, restrictive laws governing the
media, including those that
required a government permit to
publish newspapers, and which
allowed, on national security
grounds,
the arrest of media practitioners
critical of government, were repealed.
This relaxation was followed by
the arrival of poor ethical and
professional standards of the media.
Key problems included the
corruption
of practitioners by government and
business interests; inaccuracy; and
biased, unbalanced reporting;
sensationalism and dumbing-down—
usually in the form of reports that
exaggerated the importance of
events, or that focused
predominantly on sex and violence.
But then concerned media
practitioners in both the academe

and in practice, have also realised
the need
to examine themselves as
institutions vital to democratisation
and development. The media
became
news subjects themselves, as they
grew more pervasive and influential.
The founding of media advocacy
groups, among them the Center for
Media Freedom and Responsibility,
indicates a growing realisation
within the profession of the need for
self-evaluation and self-regulation in
a democratising society. The
issues of ethics and responsible
reporting are also of concern to such
groups as the Philippine Press
Institute (PPI).
The most significant gain of
Philippine journalism after 1986, has
been the growth of investigative

journalism in an environment still
burdened from the martial-law
period by the legacy of secrecy. The
establishment of the Philippine
Center for Investigative Journalism
(PCIJ) in 1989 was crucial to the
monitoring of governance, and has
brought the watchdog function of
journalism to a new level of
professional commitment. It was
rejuvenation for print as well as
broadcast.
What is clear is that for all its
problems, there are individual
journalists in the Philippine media,
even in
the most timid and most
acquiescent of Philippine
newspapers, who succeed in
reporting the news
accurately. For them, the task of
gathering information and reporting
is a day-to-day struggle with
editors and even with owners, an
ongoing struggle that is extremely
complex, characterised by small
victories, narrow escapes and many
defeats.
Provincial media
The principal media markets in
Mindanao are in the cities of
Zamboanga, Davao, General Santos,
and
Cagayan de Oro. There exist local
newspapers in these areas that are
published on a daily or weekly
basis. Local radio stations are the
predominant means of mass
communication but television is also
making a strong presence with the
prevalence of cable TV providers
that draw in national and
international programs to the
average homes in the provinces.
With the growth of commerce and

businesses in Mindanao, national
broadcast networks and Manila
based newspapers have also
established their local connections.
Then again, that has been often
been the case with stories on
Mindanao, which, like the other
regions, always runs a very poor
second to Metro Manila. In fact, it
has
only been in the past decade or so
that many broadcast and print
institutions in Manila thought of
setting
up news bureaus in key cities in
Mindanao, to cover the daily
occurrences that make news in the
smaller
communities of the country. The
bureaus, of course, also act as a
guarantee that the parent company
is
not scooped by the competition in
the event something big breaks out.

In broadcast, ABS-CBN leads the
pack with the number of bureaus in
Mindanao; it has major bureaus
in Zamboanga, Davao, General
Santos, and Cagayan de Oro,
capable of going live anytime. It
also has
satellite bureaus, which have more
limited newsgathering and editing
capabilities. GMA, for its part,
relies primarily on its sole Mindanao
bureau in Davao.
Print media have generally had it
better, not in the least because
most print correspondents are hired
as
stringers, feeding stories as needed
by Manila, with the minimum of
capital outlay (read: ballpen, paper,
and perhaps a camera). The
Philippine Daily Inquirer is one of
the exceptions; the paper has a fully

staffed Mindanao bureau, with
smaller offices in Cotabato and other
key cities.
The system of local bureaus is
generally efficient. More than
anyone else, local reporters
obviously
know their areas of responsibilities
and their news sources. Their
familiarity with local culture, history,
and even language and geography,
gives the local reporters the added
edge.
For the most part, this kind up of
set- up runs itself -- at least until
the next crisis gets Manila's eye.
Then
Mindanao suddenly finds itself
playing host to a thundering horde
from Manila. Despite their having
local stringers or correspondents at
the scene, Manila newsrooms have
traditionally insisted on sending
troops from the central office to
cover a major conflict or crisis in
Mindanao.
Media laws and regulation
Unlike many other countries, there
is no body of laws in the Philippines
that may be called Media Laws.
Instead, certain laws apply to the
mass media as well as to other
groups and persons. There is also a
substantial body of jurisprudence,
part of the law of the land, which
upholds, limits, modifies and
otherwise interprets the
constitutional provisions related to
freedom of speech and press (Article
III) or
otherwise affecting the media and
freedom of expression (such as
Article IX on the Commission on
Elections, and Article XVI prohibiting
foreign media ownership). The press
tends to be regulated by
extra-legal forces—the power of
government over the business
enterprises of media owners, the
power
of the advertisers, and the
ideological shackles that unknown to
many media practitioners often
shape
their responses to public issues,
thus hindering flow of information
during a crisis.
There are no licensing, registration
or membership requirements in any
media organisation for media
practitioners in the Philippines. For
media organisations themselves, the
powers of the National
Telecommunications Commission
are limited to the allocation of
frequencies to TV and radio stations,
and do not extend to supervision
over content. Print publications need
only to register as business
enterprises.
Philippine media in perspective
Philippine mass media are shaped
by various factors, not least of them
the preferences of media
consumers and the attempts of the
media industry to cater to them.
These preferences, however, are not
written in stone. They shift over
time, responding to changes in for
example, culture and demography.
The media industry itself exerts a
profound influence on consumer
tastes by producing content that it
thinks the public wants and which
the public consumes simply because
it is there. Consumer preferences
in one market are also prone to the
contagion of foreign influence. A
volatile political situation may

alter consumer preferences
overnight and turn upside down the
media industry’s most careful
calculations about what consumers
want. The history of the media in
the Philippines is replete with
examples of how political
movements and popular
mobilisation can raise market
demand for
independent and critical reporting,
thereby forcing changes in the
editorial policies of existing news
organisations and creating openings
for the entry of new media products
catering to the needs of a
politicised market.
In part this is because the Philippine
media have mostly been privately
and run mainly as profit-oriented
enterprises with far less intervention
from the state (except during the
Martial Law period) than in most
other countries in Asia. By nature,
commercially oriented media
companies are sensitive to market
demand. They therefore weigh the
benefits of siding with unpopular
governments with the potential loss
of market share if they are seen as
too uncritical or too partisan in
favour of these governments. They
also have to include in their
calculations possible retribution from
successor regimes if they are too
identified with the current,
increasingly ostracised government.
The threat of market retribution is
real,
as was seen in the demise of the
pro- Marcos press in the period that
followed the 1986 "people power"
uprising. The activism of citizens
groups, kept alive even in periods of
relative quiescence through email

discussion groups and other
networks linked by new technologies
(such as mobile phones) provide
alternative and ready-made
channels of information and
mobilisation that can be tapped
during periods
of crisis. These channels are much
more democratic than those
provided by big media because
information is passed on without the
benefit of media gatekeepers and
free from intervention from either
media proprietors or the state.
There is therefore great potential for
alternative social media to challenge
corporate media’s hold not
only on the market but also on the
news agenda and public opinion. In
fact, it is this potential that keeps
corporate media on their toes and
compels them to be more
responsive to the market. In truth
corporate

media knows that it is not just
market that is at stake, but power
over public opinion, the crafting of
public policy and the future of
regimes. In the end, big media
companies stand to lose not just
advertising
revenue and audience share but also
the power and the prestige that
come with owning a newspaper or
a TV network. The fighting tradition
of the Philippine press, a legacy
from anti-colonial movements
dating back to the 19th century, has
also created a risk-taking
journalistic culture that is different
from
the compliance and risk-aversion
that dominates journalism in
neighbouring countries.
As a media commentator Luis
Teodoro (2001) wrote: “Despite

themselves and the environment
which,
after the election of Estrada in 1998,
had been forced upon them, the
Philippine media played a positive
role in providing the information
crucial to the ouster of Estrada and
in the installation of a new
government which could preside
over the renewal of a country
battered by the incredible corruption
and
incompetence the Estrada
government. Media freedom and
transparency and the demands of
professional performance were what
made this possible despite the
manifold problems and inadequacies
that afflict the Philippine media.”
Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/overv
iew-mass-media-situation-philippines-
rene-guioguio (24/08/16)
Unbearable
Weights By:Susan
Bordo
An excerpt from the book
In dense, challenging, subtly argued
philosophical essays, Bordo
(Philosophy/LeMoyne College; The
Flight to Objectivity, 1987- -not
reviewed) offers a postmodern,
poststructuralist feminist
interpretation of the female body as
a cultural construction in Western
society, emphasizing eating
disorders, reproductive issues, and
the philosophical background.
Many of the problems and ideas of
contemporary Western society, says
Bordo, derive from the ineluctable
mind/body dualism of Plato,
restated by Descartes. From the
viewpoint of feminist theory (of
which the author offers a useful
history and critique),

women have been identified with
the body, which itself has been
characterized as an alien,
instinctual, threatening, passive,
and false self in which the true self—
the active and manly mind/soul- -is
confined.
In occasionally repetitive pieces—
some a decade old, some revised
from lectures—carrying titles like ``Are
Mothers Persons?,'' ``Reading the
Slender Body,'' and ``Material Girl,''
Bordo demonstrates how this
identification is deployed in law,
medicine, literature, art, popular
culture, and, especially, advertising,
which she perceptively decodes by
showing how the most trivial detail
(men eating hearty meals, women
consuming bite-size candies) reveal
cultural values and even
pathologies.
Following Foucault's archaeological
technique, Bordo shows how the
female body has migrated from

nature to culture, where it can be
controlled through dieting and
altered through surgery—and where
women are perpetually at war with
it. A cerebral introduction to liberal
feminist thinking that's humanized
by the author's anecdotes of her
own experience as a female body
(e.g., confessing to the delights of
making stuffed cabbage) and that
demonstrates what it advocates:
``What the body does is immaterial,
so long as the imagination is free.''
 Susan Bordo: modern feminist

philosopher
 Bordo’s work focuses on how
gendered bodies are formed, in
particular her essay “Unbearable
Weight: Feminism, Western
Culture, and the Body” provides
an analysis
whereby Bordo looks at (with
frustration) how popular culture
shapes the female body
 She is often considered as being
amongst the “founders” of body
studies, which may be understood
as the way in which culture
shapes how both sexes should be
looking upon each other and what
they should be deeming desirable
in the opposite sex
 Some Influences: Michel Foucault,
Helene Cixous, and Sigmund
Freud (note that she is influenced
by theory, but her purposely
politically stirring work reaches to
an audience further than
academic studies)
 She strives to note how women
are more prone to suffer from
illnesses both physical and
psychological and focuses on
hysteria, anorexia,
and agoraphobia in particular to
demonstrate how such illnesses
can be seen as examples for how
women use their bodies to insert
themselves into “the network of
practices, institutions, and
technologies”
 A Common Theme: the personal
and political are not separate in
Bordo’s work. The woman and her
relationship with her body is a
reflection of how culture moulds
gender performance. The power
source that sustains the mould is
the hold that ‘being perceived as
attractive’ has on us.
 Note: Bordo is very careful not to
assert that illnesses such as
anorexia are purely social and
cultural coding’s induced by
dominant ideology – she offers a
feminist interpretation, and

analyses social discourses and the
ongoing construction of the
feminine body
Some Key Concepts:

 The female body can be
considered as a text in itself. It
can be read as an example of how
society uses cultural images to
regulate the female, disciplines
consisting of makeup, dress, diet
to name but a few, are examples
of how the body is subconsciously
(and scarily) exacted and
normalized in everyday cultural
discourse
 Eating disorders today parallel the
hysteria that infected
(metaphorically) women in
Victorian Britain. Both disorders
are

indicative of greater cultural
struggles.
 Anorexia is a self-defeating form
of protest – for whilst the subject
is questioning the cultural ideals
that shape her life and body, she
is as the same time being
absorbed into a self-absorbing,
isolating fetish. In attempting to
protest the way in which her body
culturally functions, she is now
physically unable to function in
fully health – this highlights the
self-defeating nature of such a
protest
 The living body is trained and
shaped, it is docile. It is socially
adapted into what Bordo calls a
“useful body” an example of
which being the nineteenth
century ideal of the hourglass
figure, which is symbolic of how
easily bodies succumb to
domestic and sexual

ideals placed upon them, the
strait lace, starvation and
subsequent lack of mobility to
look this way restricts the body to
a sphere of correspondence to
aesthetic norm
 Bordo looks at the symptomology
of Anorexia, Agoraphobia, and
Hysteria and considers their
political significance. For example;
– Anorexia see’s the subject
literally and physically whittling
down the space in which they
occupy in society, Bordo considers
the anorexic body as a “caricature”
for the ideal of “hyperslenderness”
ideal for the modern woman. She
suggests that the anorexic body is
inscribed with very much alive and
pulsing conceptions for the ideal for
domesticated femininity, for the
anorexic and the domestic woman
share the similarities of feeding
others

before the self, nurturing likewise,
and considering self-feeding as
greedy. Not to mention that the
physically weak body carries
“connotations of fragility and lack of
power” when placed alongside her
male counterpart. Bordo also
continues to develop an interesting
point that in order to function
neutrally and (for lack of a better
word) happily in society, the subject
must strike a balance between
female and male sides of the self,
when they are anorexic they are
practising a masculine language and
values of “emotional discipline,
mastery, and so on” however, at the
same time, their bodies are keeping
these skills restricted to the task of
keeping them away from the public
arena, they are not occupying a
‘happy’ medium.

– In Agoraphobia the woman
loses her social mobility. In being
homebound she is being restricted
to a controllable sphere. Similarly,
when she is hysterical and muted
she becomes an ideal of “patriarchal
culture” in that she becomes the
“silent, uncomplaining woman” (2249).
Key Quotes:
“female bodies become docile
bodies” (2241)
“at the furthest extremes, the
practices of femininity may lead us
to utter demoralization, debilitation,
and death” (2241)
“The symptomology of these
disorders reveals itself as textuality”
(2243) – Bordo encourages one to
consider the disordered body as
symbolic and

to pry at possible political meanings
etched as deep as the suffering
“a steady motif in the feminist
literature on female disorder is that
of pathology as
embodied protest” (2247) – Bordo
notes how within the language of
suffering lies a violent protest – the
language of which is not effective, it
cannot be spoken, it has to be
suffered through – it is
counterproductive
“the social and sexual vulnerability
involved in having a female body”
(2250) – idea that female curves
represent sexual vulnerability, in
loosing these, the woman
presumably also loses her sexual
admirers and removes itself from
harms reach; it is admired in a
masculine nature, for the ‘strength’
and ‘will’ is connotes.
“The anorectic, of course, is unaware
that she is making a political
statement” (2248)
“the sufferer becomes wedded to an
obsessive practice, unable to make
any effective change in her life” she
is as Toril Moi has put it“Gagged and
chained to the feminine role” (2252)
– suggestions that the anorexic is
being distracted by an elusive
acquirement of power
“I view our bodies as a site of struggle”
(2254) – to Bordo it is crucial that an
analysis of the contradictions in the
practice of femininity are constantly
analysed, and that this is how feminist
politics perhaps should proceed
“The body – what we eat, how we
dress, the daily rituals through
which

we attend to the body – is a medium
of culture” (2240)
“our bodies are trained, shaped, and
impressed with the stamp of
prevailing historical forms of
selfhood, desire, masculinity,
femininity” (2240)
“In newspapers and magazines we
daily encounter stories that promote
traditional gender relations and prey
on anxieties about change” (2241)
“A dominant visual theme in teenage
magazines involves women hiding in
the shadows of men, seeking solace
in their arms” (2241)
“following Foucault, we must first
abandon the idea of power as
something possessed by one group
and levelled against one another”
(2242)
A final thought… Bordo suggests the
need for a new discourse in which
the body and gender are
formulated, suggesting that this
discourse should be one that will
confront the forces that sustain
feminine oppression…
Source: Bordo, Susan. “Unbearable
Weight: Feminism, Western Culture,
and the Body”. The Norton
Anthology of Theory and Criticism.
2nd Ed. New York: W.W. Norton &
Company Inc. 2010. 2240-2254. Print.
The Filipina's Breast: SAVAGERY,

DOCILITY, AND THE EROTICS OF
THE AMERICAN EMPIRE
By: Nerissa Balce
In colonial documents, savage
breasts were signs of conquest.
From accounts of European
explorers such as Columbus and
Magellan, to

nineteenth-century maps of the
Pacific drawn by American
cartographers, to American
postcards featuring Native American
women, the bare brown bosoms of
indigenous women were markers of
savagery, colonial desire, and a
justification for Western imperial
rule. A foundational project of
European and American
imperialisms was the creation of an
archive of images of the non-
Western other whose inferiority was
marked by female nakedness.
Imperial cultures deployed
barbarism and female nudity to
justify imperial violence and
articulate colonial phantasms about
the savage land. Columbus, who
fetishized the “colonial breasts” of
native women, was convinced that
the world was not round but
“pearshaped and topped by a
protuberance much like a woman’s

nipple.”1 In his account of the New
World, his early encounters with
natives emphasized their nakedness
and their physical beauty: “They all
go naked, men and women, as the
day they were born. . . . And the
women have very pretty bodies.”2
The nakedness of the native, with
special emphasis on the female
native’s attractive body, recalls
Adam and Eve’s exile from Paradise,
which constructed a romantic image
of the New World with “Indians” as
creatures who were “spiritually
naked,” gentle people with no
weapons, laws, religion, or
literature.3 The imperial impulse to
convert these “exiles” of
Christianity, coupled with travelers’
tales of wealth and gold in
uncharted, exotic lands, would fuel
Europe’s imperial fantasies for
centuries.
The Filipina Body as Imperial
Continuity
By Heidi Kutcha
The Philippine Exposition’s

Departments of Exploitation and
Publicity used the distribution of
photographs and promotional
leaflets to generate revenue before,
during, and after the 1904 World’s
Fair.

1 These materials included images
of Filipinos used to promote the
necessity of colonialism in lifting the
“savages” up to Western modernity.
This is exemplified by colonial aid
Dean Worcester’s photograph series
titled “The Effect of a Little
Schooling,” which depicts a bare-
breasted Filipina as the “before”
image of colonialism, and a clothed
Filipina as the “after.”
2 This was Worcester’s colonial
explanation that introduced Filipinas
to U.S. citizens as child-like
unfortunates in need of education
and clothing, and used their bodies
as a measure of success.
Anthropological photographers’
intentions hid behind a scientific
façade to provide parlor room
fantasies of sexualized savage
women – unclothed and vulnerable
to the discipline of American
colonialism.
3 Historian Nerissa Balce’s term “the
erotics of empire,” describes how
sexual conquest of the oppressed is
an inherent part of the colonial
experience and is considered erotic
by the colonizer. Historian Jose
Fermin discusses how Filipinas from
the Visayan Islands were praised at
the 1904 World’s Fair for being
molded to the Western female ideal.
4 Perhaps part of what made the
Visayan women so alluring was the
“romantic” notion Western men held
of transforming savage Filipinas into
properly domesticated and modest
ladies.
The Philippine Villages at the fair

introduced Americans to Filipinas as

both commodities and laborers
through exploiting their artisanal
abilities and displaying their bodies.
Continuity exists between the
colonizing gaze of Americans in
1904 and the ongoing exploitation of
Filipinas by U.S. citizens and others
in the global economy. Colonial
oppression resonates today through
Filipina mail-order bride websites
and resorts in the Philippines staffed
entirely by Filipinas on poverty
wages. In spite of this, Filipina
resistance has been continuous in
the history of U.S.- Philippine
relations, which scholar Vernadette
Gonzalez has cited as evidence for
the potential of a growing labor
movement in the Philippines.5
1 Jose D. Fermin, 1904 World’s Fair: the

Filipino Experience (Quezon City, U
of
the Philippines Press, 2004): 8-10.
2 Mark Rice, “His Name Was Don
Francisco Muro: Reconstructing an
Image of American
Imperialism,” American Quarterly
62, 1(March 2010): 70-74.
3Nerissa S. Balce, “The Filipina’s Breast:
Savagery, Docility, and the Erotics
of the American Empire,” Social
Text (Summer 2006): 90-93.
4 Fermin, 115.
5Vernadette V. Gonzalez, “Military
Bases, ‘Royalty Trips,’ and Imperial
Modernities: Gendered and
Racialized Labor in the Postcolonial
Philippines,” Frontiers: A Journal
of 6Women’s Studies 23, 3(2007): 43-52.

An excerpt from Stephen Q.
Lagardes’ review on Videoke
Phenomenon in the Philippines.
Karaoke/Videoke as a way of life in

the Philippines
Filipinos are known for their love of
singing and are in demand
worldwide for playing in cover
bands because of their ease of
mimicking songs by ear. The term
Karaoke only started becoming
popular during the 90s when bars
started adding them and using the
Japanese term to cater to influx of
Japanese tourists and businessmen
who requested them.
KTV (Karaoke TV) on the other
hand, is called Videoke by Filipinos.
Many Filipino restaurants and bars
local and abroad have karaoke
machines which allow customers to
sing. KTV bars are also popular
where friends and officemates rent
and sing Karaoke inside multiple
soundproof rooms to allow
individual groups to sing
undisturbed. Karaoke is most
popular during after-work as well

evening celebrations, and neighbors
often have to suffer loud, terrible
singing into the wee hours of the
morning which sometimes cause
neighborly altercations.
In fact, there is a joke by Filipinos
that the song by "My Way" by Sinatra
is the deadliest song in the
Philippines. In working class blue
collar bars, fights break out due to
reasons like bad singing, refusing to
give up the mike and revenge for
perceived insults when jeered. As
the song is very popular in these
bars, the song being sung when
deaths occur is often "My Way".
Due to the many deaths over the
years, many bars and restaurants
have banned the song on their
premises.
Videoke exemplifies the Filipinos'
sense of family, camaraderie and
community, as Videoke is best done
with family, relatives, friends,
barkadas, and even extends to
coworkers, classmates, and new
acquaintances. Though individuals
may feel apprehension or "hiya" at
first, the audience will often give
encouragement or a nudge in the
right direction. The quality of the
singing itself is not the focus of the
activity, but is rather in the effort to
share a side of one's self that is not
normally seen anywhere else. This
is why Videoke has become a great
pastime for Filipinos, and one can
suppose that in the future, when
holograms or robots become
incorporated into Videoke
performance, Filipinos will still be
there singing their hearts out to an
appreciative audience.
by Xtian Mack on November 19, 2012
Meet the Dancing Inmates of Cebu,
Philippines: Where Getting Locked
Up Abroad Is a Laughing Matter
If you’ve been to prison abroad,
chances are you don’t consider that
experience the highlight of your trip.
However, a short stint in Cebu’s
Provincial Detention and
Rehabilitation Center has emerged
as the exception to the rule. Thanks
to the dancing inmates of CPDRC,
for the first time in history, “go to
prison” is working its way onto travel
itineraries, making a trip to
the Philippines without going to jail
something to regret.
If you’re not one of the tens of
millions of Youtube viewers who has
virtually experienced the dancing
inmates, the idea of a group of
maximum- security inmates being
rehabilitated through
choreographed dance and

achieving world fame along the way
may sound more like the premise to
a bad 80s movie than an actual
Internet phenomenon turned tourist
attraction. However, credit CPDRC
chief Byron F. Garcia with being the
first warden in history to transform
his prison yard into a world-
infamous performance venue.
In the mid-2000s, Garcia introduced
simple dances to the existing prison
workout routine to liven up an
otherwise monotonous fitness hour.
An encouraging increase in good
behavior and camaraderie inspired
Garcia to get creative. Music, like
Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the
Wall and the Village People’s
Y.M.C.A, was added to the routines
to provide further motivation. In
2007, 1,500-plus inmates took on
their most ambitious challenge
to date, Michael

Jackson’s Thriller. Garcia claims he
taped and uploaded
the Thriller performance on Youtube,
not in search of celebrity, but with
hopes of inspiring other prisons to
adopt his unorthodox, yet affective
program. To Garcia’s shock, the clip
received six million hits in just three
weeks, and later that year, ranked
number five on Time magazine’s
“Top 10 Viral Videos of 2007.”
Keeping the clock ticking on the
prison’s fifteen minutes of fame,
performances became opened to
the public starting April 2008.
Despite the worldwide fame and the
fact that performances are limited to
the last Saturday of every month,
snagging a ticket to the dancing
inmates is surprisingly easy and
cheap (free!). Your “ticket,” in the
form of a lanyard prison visitor
pass, can be
retrieved at the Cebu Capitol
grounds two hours prior to the 3pm
performance. There is no need to
make a reservation, but be prompt
because tickets are distributed on a
first-come-first-serve basis. Simply show
up, wait in line, write your name,
collect your badge, and queue for a
short bus ride.
For videos to watch try to search for
this link
button.https://youtu.be/mKtdTJP_GUI
and https://youtu.be/hMnk7lh9M3o.
Application:
Activity: I. Answer the following
questions:
1. How does the Philippine media
evolve from its initial form?
2. Why do you think Filipinos are

attached to mass media?
3. In terms of arts and Filipinos love
for music, how do these affect the
presence of radio broadcasting in
the Philippines?
4. Given the fact that in the late 90’s

the rise of digital age, how does it
affect the Print Media in our
country?
Assessment:
Activity 2: (20 points)

Write a 200- 250 word essay on
how Filipinos adapt Videoke and
how important it is during an
occasion, you may also include your
personal preferences when you
experience celebration with videoke.

------------------------------------------
End of module 1
-------------------------
---------------

Philippine Popular Culture FINALS

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Philippine Popular Culture FINALS

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Philippine Popular Culture Module Pre final

Philippine Popular Culture (ACTS Computer College)

Studocu is not sponsored or endorsed by any college or university

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Pinoy Big Brother Season - Underlying

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

There have been allegations saying

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Teen Clash 2010

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

sexual entertainment disguised as

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

An Overview of the Mass Media

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

 Susan Bordo: modern feminist

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Some Key Concepts:

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)

Downloaded by Hakim Mauti (hakimmauti456@gmail.com)