Expose shows...are they really helpful or are they all hype?

There are more than 3 expose shows in the Philippines. Both major stations have one and well, smaller stations have them on as well.

I get the whole facination people have with them. It's the same way that people are so into "reality shows" because everyone has this need to see other people's lives. It's more real...or so it's what they want us to believe. But unlike most reality shows, expose shows have a goal. To help the less fortunate fight those with obvious powers compared to them...or so that's what they want us to believe.

Don't get me wrong, I believe people should have a place to run to when they have nothing else. I agree with that. But let me explain.

I have watched more than 1 episode of these expose shows. They are interesting. They have a lot of cases that are unique and well, eye opening. But recently I've been given the chance to see one of the expose shows more closely and boy was a surprised.

Expose shows are sensationalized journalism. They get all these complaints and all these pleas for help in a day and they have to respond and do something about it. i get that. But what I don't understand is why they don't do their jobs, find out the truth. That's what journalism is about right? Getting to the bottom of things and understanding it without judgement and bias. But what they do is respond routinely by reporting it to the proper authorities. Yes, that's what is expected of them and that is the right thing to do, but they don't even bother to get the other side of the story. Where's the journalism in that? They should do their jobs and investigate then expose those that need to be exposed. I hope they keep that in mind before they do anything that might harm other people, their reputations or their lives.

But that's just my point of view...

President's First Pay Check

It was big news when our President showed off his first pay check amount to no more than PHP 63,002.17 after deductions.



My reaction when I first heard the news was why is he showing this to us? Really? Did we need to know? But I guess it's part of his transparency. It's just sad because from what little I know about politics I believe that when you're in government you're not allowed to be part of any other private organization. I understand that it's due to the fact that you might have bias but really. I mean, this guy is working for us to make our country better and all we're paying him is a measly 60,000. Seriously. I believe that hard work should have pay commensurate to the amount of work that is expected of you. No wonder our past President didn't do much and actually made things worse for us. She wasn't really getting paid well...on paper.

Who decides what salary the President gets? They need to powow and do an assessment, give the guy a break. He deserves to be paid for everything we expect him to do.

But that's just my point of view...

Who is Ivan Padilla?

I admit, I haven't been keeping up with the news. Partly due to the fact that I don't see the importance of some of the things that I've been able to catch. Like a certain hosts hairstyle. I mean seriously, who chooses these topics? Don't we have better things to talk about? Like the state of our country and where is that ex-President of ours who decided to hide after she stole all our money. Those are important, I couldn't care less about the hair.

But that's not what this specific blog is about. My first blog and right away I speak of death. Sad. Not exactly what I thought I would be writing about. But it's an important topic for me. I'm a pescitarian, someone who choses to eat just fish and vegetables. My reason for this is cause I don't support the way the animals are slaughtered. I know, fish are animals too but I have a protein problem so this was my compromise. Please try to stop yourself from making me feel bad about it.

Anyway, as I was saying. Who is Ivan Padilla? The little information I have on him is that he is part of a carnapping syndicate in our country. A very notorious one at that. He came from a broken family. He had problems. He was into drugs. He was a son, a brother, a partner and a father. Those are just some of the things I gathered when I search for information about him.

But the other day he was apparently killed in a shoot out. It's not uncommon to hear about shoot outs in our country. It's like everyone is trigger happy. A lot of views have been aired about this certain shoot out. A lot of people say that he got what he deserved. He was an evil man and at least that lessens the evil people in our society. We are safer. I believe otherwise. Let me explain.

I am a firm believer that we were all put on this earth equal. That means NO ONE has any right over another. We make choices, we make mistakes, we choose paths. But NO ONE has the right to dictate whether or not someone deserves to die. I do not agree with Ivan Padilla's choice of lifestyle. He was wrong, he deserved to be punished, put away for life maybe. But he did not deserve to die the way he did. There are speculations that he actually died because the police failed to bring him to the hospital right away and that means he was probably in agony before he died. Another thing I believe he did not deserve. He was a person too, therefor he deserved to be treated like one.

I know his victims might feel otherwise. He did put them through a horrible ordeal I would not wish on anyone. But I have faith that they too think this way too harsh a way to die.

But that's just my point of view...