ABS-CBN CEO Gaby Lopez, in a taped message aired on his sanctimonious network, expressed outrage over the opinion of the DILG fact-finding committee that ABS-CBN treated the Wowowee spectators as animals.
You’re outraged, Mr. Lopez? How do you think the families of the dead feel?
As a citizen of the Republic of the Philippines, I agree with every word of the report that the DILG fact-finding committee produced. Your station did not treat the people like animals? Allow me to remind you of the following facts that your lofty position has benumbed you to:
1. Wowowee kept on plugging the anniversary and the prizes to be had for days, knowing full well that Ultra would not be able to accommodate everyone. What were they thinking, that they could just shoo away those who would not be let in?
2. Raffle tickets were being distributed –yes, Mr. Lopez, like small slices of meat– that only a few would be able to avail of.
3. Your incompetent security chief, Rene Luspo, called the steel barriers, "defenses." Defense against what and for whom?
4. In spite of the growing multitude as the anniversary neared, nothing was done and nothing was planned. Perhaps organizers felt they could "whip" the people into submission.
5. Willie Revillame was willing to go on with the show in spite of the carnage that just happened. He said it was going to be difficult but "the show must go on."
Isn’t the above callousness, Mr. Gaby Lopez? Or perhaps you’re too callous to know what callousness is.
You stated that ABS-CBN records speak for themselves. Oh, indeed! Did you see how Boy Abunda insulted contestants of Star Circle Quest? Did you see how Willie Revillame insulted and made fun of Wowowee contestants? Did you see that segment wherein Jean Saburit verbally abused children in one Star Circle Quest for children episode? How about the two other recorded stampedes in ABS-CBN-sponsored events?
Perhaps you can boast that ABS-CBN did its utmost for the injured and the families of the victims of the stampede. Yet I ask, was this out of compassion or a ploy to mitigate a class action suit? In fact, the call to emergency facilities after the stampede was first processed through station bosses before it was relayed, thus delaying considerably the arrival of ambulances.
Mr. Lopez, you have no right to be outraged! I and countless other Filipinos are the ones outraged. Outraged that ABS-CBN would use the poverty-stricken to up its ratings and make oodles of money. Outraged that your TV network would compel poor people to strip themselves of their dignity in traveling to Ultra and waiting days on end only to die a senseless death for what, an all-expense-paid burial? Outraged, because you can still travel in an air-conditioned car and sleep in an air-conditioned room and use your network to tell all and sundry that you’re outraged.
Just like that shampoo commercial, I have one word for you: Kapal!
