Pedigree

It’s a good thing Noynoy Aquino’s handlers have rewritten his biography in his official website. The original one claimed that the Philippine presidency was in his bloodline, being the son of Ninoy and Cory Aquino. It made him like a horse or a dog, carrying a presidential pedigree, a thoroughbred for the highest office. Ugh!

Not even Bongbong Marcos would dare make such a claim. Yet Nonynoy’s handlers stood pat and even defended this claim, until someone had enough sense to see through the stupidity.

This time they’ve spun it as his commitment to live up to the legacy of his parents. Pwede na rin. But as hard as they try they haven’t been able to convincingly address issues against him, like his lack of performance in his political career and the continued existence of Hacienda Luisita.

How do you solve a problem like Karen Davila?

Years ago President Cory’s spokesman Rene Saguisag said that the media was plural for mediocre. Of course, media practitioners just pounced on him. But he responded that it was actually a sympathetic quip – that he sympathized with the daily demands of looking for stories, angles and deadlines reporters, columnists and editors are subjected to that they are often forced to manufacture mediocre reports or columns just to submit something.

But as the years of the wayward media pressed on, the media that now descends upon us is not just mediocre. Today, in the 21^st century, from the ranks of the men and women who hold the sacred public trust comes one that is just plain stupid.

Take, for example, Karen Davila. Today she represents everything that is bad in media. Sure she has the pretty face, the heart of gold and perhaps even has an adequate amount of gray matter between her ears. But she is so engrossed with her celebrity that she has forgotten why she has her microphone by her lips and cameras trained at her to start with.