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NPC, Afima slam Eat Bulaga’s host for making fun of journalists’ slays

08/06/2008

The National Press Club of the Philippines (NPC) and the Alyansa ng Filipinong Mamamahayag (Afima) have rebuked Eat Bulaga’s Joey de Leon for “making fun” and “playing insensitive jokes” on the issue of journalist killings, saying the comedian’s remarks during a segment of the afternoon program Tuesday was the “height of insensitivity” toward the plight of the country’s press.

De Leon, during the “Ang Joke Mo” segment of the program, where he, Vic Sotto and Jimmy Santos were bragging about the health of their grandmothers, remarked: “Wala ‘yan sa lola ko. Ang lola ko pumapatay ng press people.”

“Mr. De Leon, who recently had a brush with a member of the entertainment press, should watch out his language. He should be sensitive to the general state of the Philippine media. Journalist killings are never a laughing matter. There is no joke in it. We respect him as a good comedian. His job to entertain has limits, however. And bragging about an old woman who could kill journalists is way beyond his turf. He stepped over and he should apologize not only to the families of journalists who died but also to those who lived to see him make his jokes. He should apologize to the thousands of journalists he insulted,” NPC president Benny Antiporda said.

He added there were close to 100 journalists killed since democracy was reinstated in 1986. Most of these killings were unsolved. Instead of making fun of it, the NPC official said De Leon should set an example of sympathy, not apathy.

“We do not believe Mr. De Leon was ignorant of the issue. Up to now, the NPC, Afima and other media organizations are trying to move heaven and earth to find ways to end the violence posed against us. And here comes this comedian who thought killing journalists was something to brag about,” Antiporda said.

“The joke was not funny. It was insulting and revolting to conscience,” Antiporda added.

Afima president Jerry Yap, for his part, said he would discuss with other officals of the NPC and Afima what actions could be taken against De Leon.

“No one should be allowed to toy with the issue of journalist killings, much less play jokes about it. We might file a formal protest before the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board. Unless he apologizes to those he insulted, we would ask the MTRCB to at least suspend him from the program,” Yap, also an NPC director, stressed.