Archive for the ‘gender’ Category

heartthrobs piolo & sam vs. lolit solis

interesting the 12-million peso libel suit that piolo pascual and sam milby filed against lolit solis and her tabloid editor for intimating that they’re gay – said to be the first ever in the history of jurisprudence in the philippines and in the world.

usually kasi, true or not true, guys just shrug it off, hindi na lang pinapatulan, why fuel speculation, such as the biggest buzz of all: that it’s a publicity stunt to get them on the front pages and gossip columns in aid of promoting piolo’s coming concert and sam’s coming album.

sey ng isang gay friend ko in media: take note, for a 12-million peso libel suit, the filing fee is 10 percent, that’s 1.2 million bucks, only 600 kyaw each, which isn’t much, as promotional expenses go, peanuts kumbaga, lalo na for the kapamilya network, IF they’re involved. and, given lolit solis’ (har)batting record, even she could be in on it, har har.

makes sense to me. twould explain the timing, why now lang, e dati na namang tinitira-tira ng bading press si piolo, who has been linked to more guys than gals, or so it seems to me.

besides, it’s not as if the gay rumor has harmed piolo’s career, or sam’s, in any way. if we are to go by their many solo product endorsements and their series of hugely successful “heartthrob” concerts here and abroad, the two hunks have happily been making capital of it and raking in the big bucks. they’re bankable, gay or not, lolit or not.

i think piolo’s the most beautiful hunk alive. i don’t think he’s gay but he could be – interesting ang chemistry nila ni sam on cam – and i don’t mind in the least.

neither do my gay friends. says one: i hope they’re gay! they’re such cuties. we need cute icons in gayland. puro manicurista at peroxide queens ang nag-leader of the pack! adds another: agree! enough of boy abunda. ngek. icon ba ‘yon?

of med schools & sluts

O.A. na talaga the howl over the desperate housewife’s dig at diplomas of philippine med schools. besides the class action suit to be filed by filipino doctors in the u.s. against producers abc/walt disney, a second lawsuit is being planned daw with philippine-based lawyers representing the medical schools. “there was blatant defamation, not only against filipino doctors but also against philippine medical schools,” sey ni california-based ted laguatan to inquirer yesterday.

naku, ha. sana pag-isip-isipan muna nila. baka in the end, mapahiya lang tayo lalo. (more…)

Hiding under the bed

Isyu 20 Nov 1995

Palakpakan, aprub na aprub, ang maraming kaibigan sa media at iba pang tagahanga ng yumaong si Louie Beltran when the Court of Appeals ruled in his favor, overturning the 1992 Regional Trial Court decision that found him guilty of libel. They agree, one and all, with Justice Jose de la Rama that Beltran’s statement to the effect that President Cory Aquino “hid under her bed” at the height of the August 1987 RAM coup attempt was a “fair comment of a public event and was made without malice.” Making matters even happier, President Cory has decided to take no further action on the case. It would seem that Beltran has been vindicated and media can now live happily ever after.

All’s well that ends well? I’m not sure. Ang totoo, I don’t quite agree that Beltran’s statement was “fair comment of a public event” or that it was made “without malice.” Say niya, if you will recall, during that August 28 coup try, “the President hid under her bed while the firing was going on—perhaps the first Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to have to do so.” He wrote it for his October 12 column (Straight from the Shoulder, Philippine Star) more than a month and a half later. I remember taking him literally. I thought he was stating an objective fact, that he had newly discovered this facet of Cory’s behavior during the crisis – nothing in the statement suggested to me that he was just kidding. That’s fair? Besides, which “public event” was the statement a “fair comment” on? Sure, the coup attempt was a public event and open to comment, but Cory hiding under her bed was not, couldn’t have been, since it didn’t happen.

Too bad Cory and her advisers aren’t into the gender issue. Sa akin, Beltran’s statement smacks of male malice or chauvinism. I ask you. If it hadn’t been Cory in Malacañang when RAM struck, if it had been Laurel or Enrile or Tolentino, would Beltran even have thought of making such a statement? Of course not. Not unless it was true.