Real-life workers speak up on Rappler and Bulatlat
CHEERS TO Bulatlat and Rappler for giving a voice to workers who were chided for working too hard! What provoked it was a snarky message from Senator Imee Marcos on behalf of her brother who is running for president.
During the Jessica Soho Presidential Interviews on January 22, 2022, presidential candidate and incumbent Vice President Leni Robredo had said in response to a question that she worked an average of 18 hours a day.
A skit “PAGOD LEN-LEN” went online, the third in the series, “Kape Chronicles,” which has the senator taking potshots at Robredo. Posted on the Senator’s official Facebook page, it is captioned “not a [sic] political content”.
The Senator and two aides make fun of Len-len, a character who collapses after working for 18 hours. Designed to ridicule Robredo, the script points out that it is unbelievable for a person to work 18 hours if one knows time management. The show ends with the written statement, “Anyone who claims to work 18 hours a day is either lying or stupid,” the title of a 2017 opinion article in Inc., a US business magazine.
The attack provoked furious backlash on social media.
In reporting on it, the Manila Bulletin, ABS-CBN News Online, and Inquirer.Net took the more conventional route, framing it as an aspect of the ongoing campaign and its heightened rivalry among candidates, with ABS-CBN and Inquirer drawing the reaction of another presidential candidate, labor leader and presidential candidate Ka Leody De Guzman.
In contrast, Rappler and Bulatlat took the opportunity to highlight the increasing number of Filipinos who have to work harder than ever.
Online news site Rappler found real-life examples from netizens who posted personal anecdotes of their hardship. The report showed screen-grabs of stories shared by healthcare workers, teachers, contractual workers, hourly wage earners, different service workers, and artists who all identified with the character satirized by Imee Marcos. #AkoSiLenLen gathered more reactions, including cartoons and collaborative templates all depicting the hard work of ordinary citizens.
The report also provided more information for background and context, recalling that a member of the Marcos family was found “guilty beyond reasonable doubt” of graft in 2018 for using ill-gotten wealth stolen from the country during the Martial Law years in a scheme to earn USD 200 million through Swiss dummy foundations, making real the issue of the wealth that has sustained the family, which has probably caused them to be so clueless about the hardship afflicting so many Filipinos.
Bulatlat.com took the same inclusive approach and interviewed small business owners and market vendors who like Len-Len put in 18 hours before they can rest: Gil Padua, 57, bakery owner-operator for 25 years, who has to work harder to be able to cover expenses due to the pandemic; Rosa Soriano, 65, a fish vendor who struggles daily to make ends meet due to a sharp drop in buyers and the increasing price of fish.
The two reports together present a perspective not quite reflected in the Marcos bubble, a world that must be so remote from those worrying about the rising cost of just living.
Reframing the issue, Bulatlat and Rappler gave voice to workers and made them part of the news during the campaign. Inclusivity changes the news, shifts its focus from the prominent subjects to those on the sidelines whose concerns should be central to candidates and campaigns – that is, of course, if those seeking public office are doing so they can serve the Filipino people most in need, including those who work the longest hours so that they and their families can survive.