Willie Revillame on calls for advertisers to pull out: Willing Willie fans will boycott their products

Willie Revillame on the Willing Willie episode aired on March 29

(SPOT.ph) Reacting to calls for advertisers of Willing Willie to withdraw their support from the program following the Jan-Jan incident, Willie Revillame said on the TV-5 show yesterday, March 29, "’Pag binoycott kami ng advertisers, ’yong mga nagmamahal sa amin, hindi bibilhin ang produktong ’yan (If advertisers boycott the show, people who love Willing Willie won’t buy their products)."

Revillame also addressed the Department of Social Welfare and Development which called the case of the six-year-old boy who cried while he gyrated on the show a "blatant manifestation of child abuse." Revillame said, "DSWD, hinusgahan niyo kaagad ako. Hindi niyo po alam ang puno’t dulo (DSWD, you judged me without knowing what really happened)."

On the other hand, he commended Grace Poe-Llamanzares, chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB). "I salute you, Ma’am. Sabi niya iimbestigahan muna bago mag-desisyon (She said they will investigate first before deciding on what to do). I think that’s the way to do it."

Revillame added that Jojo Estrada, Jan-Jan’s father, told him that a certain director and a woman asked him to speak against Revillame and destroy the show.

"Bakit ba init na init kayo sa akin? Guwapong-guwapo ba kayo sa akin? (Why are you all attacking me? Do you find me that attractive?)" he quipped. "Wala akong feeling na guilty kasi hindi ako guilty (I don’t feel guilty because I’m not guilty)."

He also addressed the celebrities who have Tweeted about the controversial incident. Shaking his head, he asked them to help fellow Filipinos instead. He declined to name the celebrities because he claimed a lot of people will get mad at them. "’Wag na kayong mag-tweet, pare-pareho tayong nasa industriya. Mag-concert ka kung sino ka man ng libre at ’yong perang kikitain mo ibigay mo."

("Don’t tweet about it; we’re all in the same industry. Whoever you are, just hold a concert and donate the money you’ll earn.")

A manifesto for the advertisers of Willing Willie has been circulating online, slamming "superficial and trashy TV programs," "the constant debasement and exploitation of the poor, the use of young women as sex objects (and) the shabby treatment that impressionable kids get."

The manifesto reads: "We will not hesitate to boycott your products if you continue propping up TV shows that are crass, vulgar and irrelevant to our lives. This is not a threat but a promise."

John Silva, a writer and advocate for arts and heritage preservation, posted on his Facebook account a letter addressed to TV-5 executive and business mogul Manny Pangilinan. "If you seemingly have the wherewithal to make your companies profitable here and in the region, doing it the old capitalist way, why do you have to stoop down to make money by mimicking the sleaze of strip shows and massage parlor owners? Why do you make your well-paid host come out looking like a pimp? And why must an under-aged traumatized boy be used? Don't your TV producers have the slightest clue that such use constitutes child abuse?" Silva wrote.

He added, "The only other country that does this sordid thing is Afghanistan where fundamentalist Taliban men coax their boy lovers to dance or get beaten up and killed if they don't do it well. At least we are not at that stage yet but (we) could (be) if this filth continues."

Silva advised Pangilinan to "drop (Revillame), revive your good standing and bring decency, self-respect and pride among our people, especially our children."