There appeared to be political turbulence ahead as we approached the one-year mark of the presidency of Bongbong Marcos Jr., which is on the 30th of June, a year from the Presidential Inauguration after the May 2022 elections.
This will now come on a positive note, however, with the welcome appointments of two Cabinet members, one of whom ran in the elections but lost and has now surpassed the mandated one-year election ban for losing candidates, Atty. Gilbert Teodoro. He has slid into the role of Defense secretary, a position seemingly reserved for him since last year.
On the other hand, the newly appointed Health secretary, Dr. Ted Herbosa, did not run in the 2022 elections. The distinguished Secretary Herbosa is a high-ranking official of the University of the Philippines and served as undersecretary in the Department of Health during the term of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He is the brother of my former boss at ACCRALAW, former SEC Chairperson, Atty. Tess Herbosa.
This begs the question — why did it take so long for President Marcos Jr. to appoint a Health Secretary? It was rumored that the secretary position was reserved for Dr. Willie Ong, the running mate of Isko Moreno, who obviously lost in the vice-presidential race. It may be possible that Dr. Ong, upon being invited, respectfully declined the appointment.
This was headline-grabbing news, supposedly.
But the biggest news of the week came from the world of showbiz and involved very political personalities.
The bolting of Tito, Vic and Joey, the hosts of the noontime show “Eat Bulaga,” from TAPE Productions and, effectively, GMA 7, to join TV5 was as enthralling as any political drama given the undisputed heavyweights entangled in this mess that was months in the making. Further, it is difficult not to think that the reasons for the departure of TVJ, or their removal by TAPE, had political motivations.
The TVJ machinery created the Filipino noontime show as we know it today. It helped mold the Filipino entertainment industry through its creative segments and talents. Countless Filipinos have benefitted from “Eat Bulaga,” be it monetarily or emotionally. The show has churned out several politicians on the local and national levels, with Senate President Tito Sotto at the forefront of it all. Notably, Tito Sotto’s daughter, Ciara, is the chairperson of the MTRCB, while his son, Gian, is the vice mayor of Quezon City. Vic Sotto’s son, Vico, is the mayor of Pasig City.
TAPE Productions, on the other hand, is owned by the Jalosjos family from Zamboanga del Norte. The patriarch, Romeo Jalosjos, a former congressman, is no stranger to controversy. His son, Romeo Jr., the president of TAPE, won the congressional elections in 2022 but was later delisted from the roster of the House of Representatives by a status quo ante order. Another son, Seth Jalosjos, CFO of TAPE, is a former congressman and is now mayor of Dapitan City. With the undetermined fate of Romeo Jr. in the House, we can safely assume that their stronghold in the district is not as fortified as before.
In an interview with Senator Tito Sotto, it was insinuated that one of the reasons for their dispute with the Jalosjos family was the planned use of the “Eat Bulaga” brand to jumpstart a party-list group, taking a page from the playbook of the Tulfo brothers who almost instantly built their own political dynasty from media. The bolting of TVJ to TV5, owned by tycoon Manny Pangilinan, has political and business ramifications that have yet to be felt. All this merely proves that in our country, showbiz is king and the line between politics and showbiz has been blurred now more than ever.
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