It was an interesting show, but to be honest, the ...

2009-04-28T04:20:00.000+02:00

It was an interesting show, but to be honest, the BBC has been airing shows on these SAME topics in the Philippines since the fall of the Marcoses: all negative, hopeless documentaries aimed at showing what a "crap-hole" the Philippines is. Yet any travel shows on Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam do nothing but praise the natural beauty and typical tourist sites, and do nothing to address the social and political issues in those countries (in the case of Indonesia and Vietnam, much more dire than the Philippines, economically and in terms of human-rights abuses).

Despite the fact that Goldman Sachs is as confident in the new Philippine economy to name it one of the "Next Eleven" economies likely to become one of the most powerful countries in the near future (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_Eleven), I am completely vexed that the only image the Western media agencies present of the Philippines is one of a hopelessly poor Banana Republic, inhabited by ultra-religious and uneducated masses (whether Christian or Muslim) that are destroying themselves due to their ignorance.. Which is what the Explore show has seemed to propose. And that reflects a lot on the way westerners see Filipino people. I've studied Media Studies for 3 years, and know all about "cropping" setting up "icons", and in the case of any report or documentary shown on the Philippines, it is obvious what methods these journalists are using and for what end...

Have any of you stopped to ask yourselves why the BBC, CNN and others are only ever showing the negatives and never the positives of the Philippines??

I've read comments in online forums from non-Filipino people who believe that the Philippines is no better off than Afghanistan and Ethiopia, which just goes to show that; Number 1, Media organisations are able to manipulate and crop the image of the country to suit its tastes, and 2; how seemingly powerless and gullible the Filipino people are (whether abroad or at home) to be playing into these traps set by the media...

Questions must be asked why the Philippines is treated like "the sick man of Asia", while corrupt and equally-poor countries like China (no democracy and countless human rights abuses), India (Mumbai has the biggest slum on Earth; rigid class-system) and Thailand (political turmoil; similar southern conflict) are shown to be "progressive" and "tourist friendly"...

The Philippines tourist economy is one of the weakest in East Asia, and it is because of all of this "Philippine-bashing". Remember that foreign tourism had played a big part in strengthening the economies of Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey and Mexico to near-developed country status (despite the corruption in their respective governments) and yet the Philippines remains behind exclusively because of the stigma left by the media. It is time that Filipinos get more national pride and become proactive in challenging this unfair image-bashing of the country by foreign media agencies.

i and the rest of the filipinos have watched manil...

2009-02-18T00:16:00.000+01:00

i and the rest of the filipinos have watched manila to mindanao program of bbc. as soon as the program ended, i called my friend, as i felt so sad,frustrated and angry. sad because of the estate of our country. frustrated because we know something can be done to prevent poverty and restore our rich country but our government is not doing anything for it.angry for the lost of respect to our environment,loss of dignity,low standard of living,inappropriate war and for the church that still preaches that contraceptive is a crime but poverty is not.
the following morning i was very anxious to come to work just in case a collegue or anyone ask me about the reality of this documentary.

Comments on Cat's Walks: Manila to Mindanao

It was an interesting show, but to be honest, the ...

i and the rest of the filipinos have watched manil...