Current Trends In The Philippines

Compared to the makibaka generation of the 70’s, ours is relatively apathetic to political matters. This is somehow attributable to the modern set-up of Philippine news broadcasting and advertising.

Do you know what PDAF is? How about a storm surge?

Before the Yellow Revolution in 1986, a distinct line was established to separate the primetime news from show business news. To keep yourself informed in both, you have to watch the professional reporter Harry Gasser in NewsWatch and the entertaining chikadora Inday Badiday in Eye to Eye. Nowadays, you can be updated by watching a single program. In Bandila, Boy Abunda can be found sitting side by side, laughing and sharing banters with primetime news reporters Karen Davila, Ces Drilon and Julius Babao. As observed by Jean Encinas-Franco, a political scientist in UP, it just shows how serious news and celebrity gossips managed to intertwine over a few years. Furthermore, it suggests that the former and the latter are now equal in terms of importance. Our interest is diverted. Even if we are presented with

This is a result of the belief that they are a manifestation of modernization and democracy. If a clear distinction between entertainment and politics cannot be established, the government may lose its credibility in the eyes of the people and thus, lose its legitimacy. Because the subject of political apathy in the Philippines is relatively not talked about both from a practical and an academic perspective, people are not well-informed and are mere spectators. Filipinos would rather feign indifference than admit ignorance. Because of lack of understanding of politics, people may find it difficult to appreciate their right to vote which makes them deem it as pointless to gain unbeneficial knowledge. This rationalization of ignorance results in political