Ryzza Mae with the contestant winner. Screengrab from YouTube.com
MANILA, Philippines – The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board on Wednesday summoned “Eat Bulaga” and “The Ryzza Mae Show” producers to a mandatory conference over “scenes allegedly insensitive and unfriendly to children.”
The MTRCB, in a statement sent to media, said some scenes shown by the two programs “palpably violate the dignity of the child,” prompting them to summon the show’s producer TAPE, Inc. and GMA Network, where both shows air.
MTRCB chair Eugenio “Toto” Villareal, in a later interview on Wednesday with the INQUIRER said the conference has been scheduled Thursday, September 5 at 3 p.m. at the MTRCB offices in Quezon City.
The Board mentioned two episodes: “Eat Bulaga”’s July 29 episode in which TV host Vic Sotto “spat juice on the face of child actress-host Ryzza Mae Dizon” in the segment called “Ang Joke Ko.” Another was on the Ryzza Mae Show’s August 14 episode where a contest winner called the child “landing bata ka.”
“We want to emphasize that children between one (1) and eight (8) years old are not yet capable of critical judgment. They are easily impressionable and still incapable of processing a joke as such,” Villareal told the INQUIRER. “We’re aware that it was just a joke, but kids watching the show don’t. They would think it’s OK to spit on another person’s face or to be spat on.”
In its memo to Tape Inc., the MTRCB said the scene was “disturbing because Dizon was palpably exploited as she was ridiculed, humiliated and degraded by the act of the host. The scene not only palpably compromise the dignity of a child as a human being, it also does not promote any positive value or behavior among viewers, adults or children alike. Moreover, such scene may be deemed prejudicial to her development.”
The Aug. 14 episode of “The Ryzza Mae Show” has a contest winner named Gelsa telling Dizon “Landing bata ka ah!” (You’re such a flirty kid!), to which the young TV host replied by pleading that she was just a child and asking the guest not to be too harsh on her. “Bata pa po ako. Ate ‘wag ah, dahan dahan. Ikaw naman ang sungit mo sa akin,” Dizon told the contestant.
This episode has been posted on the video sharing site, YouTube.
As of September 4, the YouTube video was viewed by almost half-a-million times.
The most “liked” comment on the video said the woman should not have treated a child like that.
“I think that merits a case…violence against children… Well if that’s [the contest winner’s] way of wanting to be famous, she succeeded. [But], she made a big mistake of making herself the laughing stock of the entire country,” the comment read.
Villareal stressed that children “should not be treated like toys or pets. We’re a bit lucky because Ryzza Mae has a high intelligence quotient, and that she was able to express how she felt with the shabby treatment. Other kids are not as expressive.”
In a text message to INQUIRER, Tape Inc. senior vice president and chief operating officer Malou Choa-Fagar said “we’ll attend the meeting. Ever since, we’ve cooperated…”
According to the MTRCB memo, “the child actor was exposed to malicious and rude statements. [This] imparts the idea that it is natural to utter slanderous and abusive statements against a person.”
The MTRCB said it hoped for the “cooperation of all those concerned in finding out what caused these scenes, who are responsible therefore, and what immediate and concrete measures can be done so they do not happen again.”
The statement added that there was “serious and urgent concern for the welfare of children, who are most vulnerable in media and entertainment.”
Dizon became popular when she won the Little Miss Philippines title in 2012. She is currently the youngest host in “Eat Bulaga.” Aside from “The Ryzza Mae Show,” Dizon is also seen in the sitcom “Vampire Ang Daddy Ko.” She was also a cast of the fantasy-adventure film “Si Agimat, Si Enteng at Si Ako.”
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Originally posted: September 4, 2013 | 8:58 am