{"id":2312,"date":"2021-09-16T19:25:36","date_gmt":"2021-09-16T11:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csspsinag.wordpress.com\/?p=2312"},"modified":"2021-09-16T19:25:36","modified_gmt":"2021-09-16T11:25:36","slug":"the-greatest-lesson-toni-gonzaga-should-learn-from-her-bbm-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sinag.press\/news\/2021\/09\/16\/the-greatest-lesson-toni-gonzaga-should-learn-from-her-bbm-interview\/","title":{"rendered":"The greatest lesson Toni Gonzaga should learn from her BBM interview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Days before the 49th Martial Law anniversary, Toni Gonzaga trended as she interviewed Bongbong Marcos, the son of the fallen dictator Ferdinand Marcos, for \u201cThe Greatest Lesson Bongbong Marcos Learned From His Father\u201d<\/strong>. The former senator shared how his father \u2014 who is a known human rights violator, kleptocrat, and authoritarian \u2014 influenced him for who he is today and his vision for the country\u2019s future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Days before the 49th Martial Law anniversary, Toni Gonzaga trended as she interviewed Bongbong Marcos, the son of the fallen dictator Ferdinand Marcos, on her Youtube show \u2018ToniTalks\u2019. With the episode titled \u201cThe Greatest Lesson Bongbong Marcos Learned From His Father<\/a>,\u201d the former senator shared how his father \u2014 who is a known human rights violator, kleptocrat, and authoritarian \u2014 influenced him for who he is today and his vision for the country\u2019s future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some netizens described Gonzaga\u2019s interview as \u201cwholesome.\u201d The friendly ambience, soothing music, and humanizing questions in the video made the story of the Marcoses palatable to the unwary public. The actress was even commended because of her \u201cinclusive\u201d and \u201cnon-partisan\u201d brand of interviews. Some contended that it\u2019s fair to interview Marcos because she also featured the members of the \u201copposition\u201d, such as Vice President Leni Robredo and Atty. Chel Diokno, on the previous episodes of her online show. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This, nonetheless, is not enough to prove the \u201cimpartiality\u201d of her controversial interview. Knowingly or unknowingly, Gonzaga just served as an instrument of the disgraced political family for its systematic and never-ending attempts to whitewash Martial Law atrocities and distort the collective memory of the Filipino people. Through ToniTalks, Marcos was able to amplify misleading historical accounts in an effort to consecrate the image of the late dictator and sway public opinion in favor of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout the interview, Marcos expressed deceptive and sugar-coated narratives of history, thanks to Gonzaga\u2019s predisposed episode title and interview questions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The name of the video is already contentious and eyebrow-raising. Is there something \u201cgreat\u201d that you could learn from a historical figure who abused his power and crippled the nation\u2019s economy and development?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, at the latter part of the episode, the actress asked BBM how he would \u201creintroduce\u201d himself as a Marcos. Arguably, the question has the underlying assumption that the audience must know a different version of Marcos, contradicting the history\u2019s judgement to them. This put the Marcoses in a good light, despite their family\u2019s countless records of sins to the nation. In other words, reintroducing Marcos is a mark of historical revisionism par excellence, <\/em>and Gonzaga is a complicit to that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BBM then replied: \u201cWell, I\u2019m the son of the longest lasting president who brought the Philippines into the modern world…\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it\u2019s true that a myriad of classrooms, roads, and edifices were built under the Marcos regime, it\u2019s not enough to prove that Marcos brought the Philippines into the \u201cmodern world.\u201d  Ironically, his late father was also the reason why our country\u2019s development was impeded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marcos transformed the Philippines into a debt-ridden country<\/a>. The massive debts under his term greatly affected the nation\u2019s recovery up to this day.   The economic recession<\/a> during his latter years refute BBM\u2019s claim. In addition, did Gonzaga know who is the current holder of the Guinness world record for the \u201cGreatest robbery of a government<\/a>\u201d of all time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marcos did not just hindered the country\u2019s development, but he also brought back the Philippines into the dark ages. Numerous cases of human right violations happened during his authoritarian rule. According to Amnesty International, 70,000 were detained; 34,000 were tortured; and over 3,000 were killed during Martial Law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

State censorship also took place. The government controlled the media and dissemination of information. Freedom of speech and the press were curtailed. In fact, ABS-CBN, the mother network of Toni Gonzaga, is the main victim.  Just like today, the broadcast giant ceased its operations during Martial Law as Marcos unjustly took its control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

BBM added to his reply: \u201c[I am the son of the longest lasting president] who brought to the Philippines a sense of nationhood.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such statement is misleading. It\u2019s far safer to say that Marcos employed a false sense of nationhood to legitimize his fascist rule. In reality, Ferdinand Marcos of Ilocos Norte and Imelda Marcos of Leyte favored certain ethnolinguistic groups \u2014 the Ilocanos and Warays \u2014 over the nation during his reign. Most of his generals and appointees came from their homelands, even if they are not deemed the most qualified. This is regionalism at its finest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, they are the same persons who wrecked our nationhood because of their countless offenses to the Filipino people as mentioned above. In fact, BBM even called the people in the EDSA revolution — who are the same people they ought to serve — as \u201cenemies\u201d during the interview (10:57). Does considering your people as the antagonist reflect nationhood?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Marcoses are also continuing to worsen our divided nation through their structured persistent attempts to distort and conceal the darkest chapters of history.  It\u2019s true that history is written by the victors; but it\u2019s also true that history is being rewritten by desperate losers who insatiably desire to reclaim their seats in Malaca\u00f1ang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, Gonzaga must learn the greatest lesson from her BBM interview. Yes, you enjoy the freedom of expression. It\u2019s your freewill to invite and interview anyone in your online show. Yet, you must remember that our right to expression must be balanced by the right of the public to truthful information, and this is what you and BBM failed to impart in your interview. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This episode just enabled the disgraced political family to revise the nation\u2019s history in favor of them and generate clout amidst the looming elections.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Never forget, Toni.
Never again, Toni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Featured Image by Spot.ph<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Days before the 49th Martial Law anniversary, Toni Gonzaga trended as she interviewed Bongbong Marcos, the son of the fallen dictator Ferdinand Marcos, for \u201cThe Greatest Lesson Bongbong Marcos Learned From His Father\u201d. The former senator shared how his father \u2014 who is a known human rights violator, kleptocrat, and authoritarian \u2014 influenced him for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":2313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[122],"class_list":["post-2312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t