Of course everyone is talking about the recent suicide of ex-AFP chief Angelo Reyes.
Thank God for overruled office policies concocted by idiots with penis-envy for people listening to portable music devices.
Everyone who were tuned in to radio stations (Im more of an MP3 listener---my playlist blows all radio format to bits) jerked their head back in unison as if stung by some nasty insect when the news flash from whatever top 40 FM station they were listening to hit them.
By 9:30 AM people at the office were scuttling like ants with their antennae pulled out bumping at each other on the way to the huge TV in the lobby.
As expected, the network covering the event was all business at giving the people their daily dose of intrigue, suspense, and the sick glorified form of voyeurism.
The coverage didn't disappoint: The hyperkinetic style of talking, interviews of people 'shocked that the man went through with such a dastardly act because he seemed in control and cool all the time', and police reports peppered with delightful terms like 'probably', 'probable', and 'we can assume'. In hindsight, all police media statements in the Philippines have been that way since I was born.
And the collective 'tsk' 'tsk' coming from the audience that either meant they were sorry for the dead man or they were sorry that not another one of the accused joined him. Either way, it's amusing to watch the audience react to the images and sounds splattered all over the boob tube.
Nothing like a little high-profile death as a worthwhile distraction from the mind-numbing routine of updating the database for shipping clients.
It's not until the first primetime news coverage that I actually complained.
When someone dies, specially high-profile military officials accused of corruption, I tend to go overboard with my imagination that it may have been an elaborate murder setup meant to look like a suicide; as well as a host of other questions I wanted to ask like why the hell did he deviate from the usual method of the fastest, simply blowing-your-brains-out and opted for the chest where the likelihood of suffering before you die is a lot higher.
Simple, common questions like those were never asked even once during the entire week of primetime news broadcasts. What you get in exchange, is the most cringe-inducing 'tribute' about the deceased courtesy of interviews (testimonials actually) with his closest friends, family, a neverending rotation of his scholastic achievements and professional success. It practically accomplished what soap operas can only dream about these days in manipulating the emotions of the viewers.
Makes you wonder when someone will appear onstage all teary eyed saying some cliched testimony about how great a fellow the guy really is. Oh wait, they already did that. Just how exactly do broadcasting media practitioners in this country operate? At least the big, prominent ones. Because the whole time they were focusing on the suicide story the only relevant information that came out of it was how much Filipino viewers were undiscerning in the news content of their news programs.
Even if it's already insulting to the intelligence.
