The recently concluded third installment of Pilipinas Got Talent resulted to a lot of disagreement to the victory of Maasinhon Trio. Sabi pa sa kumakalat na joke, season one had a “soloist” Jovit Baldivino, season two had a “duet” from Marcelito Pomoy and the third season hailed a “trio” as grand winner. At malaki daw and chance ng mga “quartet” na manalo sa season 4.
Marami ang tumaas ang kilay, pero sabi nga ni Luis Manzano sa kanyang tweet “@luckymanzano: “when all has been said and done, lahat sila talented and may ipagmamalaki, maybe voting just didnt go the way we wanted to, oh well :)” . Siguro nga’y the result didn’t go the way we expect, but I am pretty sure that the Maasin people expected it because they showed their unity and support to their kababayans.
And we know that the runner ups are fan-based. Khalil has a very strong fan base sa Facebook at bukambibig ng mga girls at beki sa twitter. Even my dad was rooting for him. Bringas brothers gained their fans kahit nung sa audition pa lang. Same to what happened to Jovit BAldivino, the season 1 champ who was so popular on Youtube, then nagsulputan ang mga fans sa Facebook. Kaliwa’t kanan maririnig mong kinakanta ang “Faithfully” sa videokehan, karinderya, barberya at sementeryo. Iba naman ng kwento ni MArcelito dahil he was not even a public choice during the semis, but still won because of his grand finals performance.So much for PGT stuff.
Kelan nga ba nagiging maganda o hindi maganda na ipagkatiwala sa tao ang isang posisyon o karangalan sa pamamagitan ng text votes? O kahit sa on-line voting? 
One good thing about that is we can bring Palawan to the roster of Seven Wonders of the World. Kung active lang ang China sa pagboto, malamang number one ang Great Wall, number 2 ang Terra Cotta at number 3 ang Chinese Garter. At kung sumunod ang mga Bombay at Amerikano, pasok din ang Taj Mahal, Grand Canyon, Bollywood at White House. Pero bakit hindi nangyayari yun? Kasi mas active tayo sa ganyan. Mas maraming tao ang nagtetext saten. Mas maraming Pinoy ang laging on-line. Mas maraming Pilipino ang tatlo-tatlo ang facebook account. At yung iba lagpas pa ng sampu para lang maka-gain ng maraming puntos sa Ninja Saga at Mafia Wars. Mas marami ang populasyon ng tao na may facebook at twitter account kesa sa mga Pilipinong walang sariling computer sa bahay.
Isa pa, mas napapakinabangan natin ang on-line voting sa international beauty pageants. At dahil based sa on-line votes ang Miss Photogenic Award sa Miss Universe, we have won 2005, 2006 and 2007 from that category. Kaya lang bigo tayo this time to make Shamcey Supsup gain the a spot from on-linevotes. But nonetheless nakapasok pa rin siya.So far diyan ko lang nakikitang kapaki-pakinabang ang power of public voting ng mga PInoy. Kung ipagkatiwala kaya natin ang paghahalal ng pangulo through on-line and text votes? Juskopo!
Base sa mga nanalo ng PGT, it proves that we are really more into singing. Talent rin naman ang pagkanta, pero sandamakmak ng singing contest ang meron sa Pinas. So far wala pa akong alam na pakontes para sa mga magicians, Shadow Theater Groups at Aerial Acrobatics. We could’ve showed to the world that Filipino talents are more than just singing.
The voting public reflect the nation, who we are and what we are made of. In the same vein there was a controversy before from American Idol na naging bottom three ang “black divas” Jennifer Hudson, Fantasia Barrino and LaToya London (Paulsen, 2004). Sa text votes naipakita ang pagiging racist ng tao.
I still believe in the credibility of the television managements when it comes to text votes results. Lalo na pag sinasabi nilang “it was verified by SGV Accounting Firm” or “it was tallied and checked by Punonbayan and Araullo. ” Wala nga silang control sa resulta ng botohan ngunit MAY MAGAGAWA pa rin sila to somehow manipulate the audience to vote. How??
Una, they can put much exposure to the struggling contestants and tried to magnify and highlight the emotions. Through wise edits pwede nating palabasin na kontrabida and isa at agrabyado ang isa. Pwedeng i-highlight ang drama sa pamamagitan ng makapag-bagbagdamdaming pang-MMK na istorya ng contestant.
Pangalawa, ipakita sa tao ang current standing ng botohan. This happened to season 3 of PBB. For the first time, a week before the Big Night the TV program revealed the standings of the housemates. It was shown that Paul Jake lead the pack. But some active audience felt that there is something going on with this revelation. Parang it was a wake-up call to MELASON that neither of the two could bring home the bacon. It’s like telling them na wag pumetiks, ang akala niyong mananalo ay hindi pa nakakakuha ng enough votes. Ayon sa isang reaksiyon ng isang Youtube subscriber na si CliveRaf (2010): “This is my personal point of view. I dont think mananalo si Melai sa PBB kung hindi nila pinakita "FIRST TIME" yung result ng votes. For me she deserves to win also kasi she really needs it. But on PJ side I think it is unfair. If hindi nila pinakita yung votes, all the way na si PJ para maging PBB big winner. Feeling ko ginawa ng PBB na ilabas ang result because ayaw nila madisappoint ang MELASON fans. Well anyways tapos na ang boxing. Congrats Melai. I hope magtagal ang loveteam nyo ni Jason”
Siguro ganito ang nangyari sa El Gamma Penumbra at Synergy. People thought na kahit hindi sila bumoto, total mukang marami naman ang nag-eexpress ng kanilang paghanga sa grupo ay malamang ay bumoto na sila. Why would I vote if I know that many people will vote to them. Sayang ang 2.50 noh!
The same fate happened to Mang Rico. Puro papuri at paghanga, ang tanong bumoto ba sila? I’m sure karamihan sa mga nag-protesta sa pagkatalo ng El Gamma at Synergy ay mga hindi naman bumoto. And the people from Maasin, Southern Leyte were so united and made sure that the trio will win it all. Ginulat nila tayo.
Minsan nga naman ang demokrasya ay hindi mo maintindihan. Ang sabi nila “vox populi, vox dei” pero sana wag na nating idamay ang “boses ng kalangitan”. Pero gayunpaman, masakit man pero majority wins talaga. Ipakita na lang natin ang respeto sa mga itinatanghal na kampeyon sa mga pakontes na base sa “text at on-line votations”.
Sources:
CliveRaf (2010). PBB DOUBLE UP BIG WINNER MELAI,MELASON(HQ) by joancute1000. Youtube. Lifted from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVRiGsvsye0
Paulsen, Wade (2004). Buzz over Jennifer Hudson's ouster from 'American Idol 3' continues. Reality TV World. Lifted from http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/buzz-over-jennifer-hudson-ouster-from-american-idol-3-continues-2518.php
Photo sources:
1. MAASINHON TRIO http://pktube.onepakistan.com/Pilipinas+Got+Talent+Season+2/
2. KHALIL RAMOS http://www.blazin100.com/2011/07/31/khalil-ramos-on-pilipinas-got-talent-3-top-photos/khalil-ramos-6/
3. PALAWAN UNDERGROUND RIVER http://www.trendsandspots.com/category/travel-and-leisure/
4. SHAMCEY SUPSUP http://www6.vnmedia.vn/VN/co_gai_24_tuoi_dang_quang_hoa_hau_hoan_vu_philippines_58_219583.html
5. AMERICAN IDOL http://www.etonline.com/media/photo/109590_Shocking_Send_Offs/index.html?photo=4
6. PAUL JAKE http://www.etonline.com/media/photo/109590_Shocking_Send_Offs/index.html?photo=4
7. GROUP TEXTING http://kc3325.wordpress.com/2010/04/07/cmc-topic-texting/
