[Philippines] Game shows, poverty, and tragedy

from The Manila Standard Today

By Isah V. Red
CRITICS of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo were quick to give the tragedy at the Philsports Arena (or Ultra) last weekend a political angle, trying to blame the government’s failure to confront squarely the worsening poverty among millions of Filipinos.

While grinding poverty may have been the reason why thousands massed at the entrances to the Philsports Arena and waited for days for a chance to win prizes in the raffles, it was not what caused the stampede.

Based on the survivors’ accounts as told to TV news reporters, what might have triggered the people to rush toward the LRP Gate, which was what had been designated as the entrance to the auditorium and open bleachers, was an announcement by one member of the ABS-CBN production staff that only some of them, not all of them, could be accommodated inside Ultra.

It was a natural and expected reaction of those who had been waiting so long, tired and hungry, to try anything and everything possible just to get inside. If Willie Revillame had the good sense to suggest to his show’s staff, after what he saw Friday night outside the Ultra, to tell those who couldn’t be accommodated to go home instead and try their luck as home partners in the Pera o Bayong game, perhaps the tragedy might have been forestalled.

The production people said they didn’t expect that kind of crowd. Was it because the show was rating just half of Eat...Bulaga’s ratings? So, what lured the people, the poorest of the poor, to camp out outside Ultra? Definitely it wasn’t the desire to see Revillame clown around the stage. Neither would they risk their lives to see those near-naked women gyrating around Revillame.

Game shows with a format that requires little intelligence from the contestants in order to win big money will definitely attract the poorest of the poor. Impoverished individuals will pin their hopes on luck, and they are the staunchest believers of the dichotomy of any game of chance “ buenas” and “malas.”

Yes, it was the money, the house and lot, the jeepneys, and the tricycles the show promised that lured the multitude to go to the Ultra. And those what drove people to go on a rampage when they learned that not everyone can get inside the auditorium.

The ABS-CBN staff knew that there were just too many people waiting outside and that most of them could not be physically accommodated inside as early as Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. The question was, why they did have to wait till Saturday morning to make that announcement?

ENG teams were all over the place taking shots of the multitude lined up or milling just outside the Ultra. Were the clips too important for the show (or network) to let the people go?

Revillame admitted on television that he visited the crowd. I know Revillame personally and I can imagine what he felt after seeing the crowd. I can safely surmise that he was in a state of euphoria as he was trying to figure out what his opening lines would be the next day with all those people there staying the night to get inside the auditorium first.

Revillame had always wanted to have the same kind of adulation that Randy Santiago was getting from his throngs of screaming fans when he was the hottest singer in the mid-’80s. Back then, Revillame was a drummer, a good one, I must say, and at the same time a struggling comedian.

We were told that the head of ABS-CBN’s security regularly visited the place. He must have seen the situation with his own two eyes. Did it not occur to him that with that crowd and no crowd control in place, there was a disaster waiting to happen?

There were no less than 12 ABS-CBN security guards standing behind the barricade that was placed on the street in front of the gate where the stampede occurred resulting in so many deaths and injuries.

Yet, none of them was even injured! Did they leave their stations when the crowd started to push against the barriers?