Tito Sotto welcomes MTRCB probe

SCREENGRAB of “Eat Bulaga” hosts Tito Sotto (left) and Jose Manalo scolding a contest winner.

Sen. Tito Sotto, host of the noontime variety show, “Eat Bulaga,” said he welcomes a probe to be initiated by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), regarding an incident in the program which some netizens have described as “insensitive.”

Sotto told the Inquirer: “I am glad that the MTRCB is looking into it because, after they view [the episode], they will see I was merely protecting the institution of marriage.”

In the July 9 edition of the GMA 7 program, a female winner in the “Juan for All, All for Juan” contest, recalled how she was abused by a male drinking buddy—an unfortunate occurrence that resulted in the breakup of her marriage.

Sotto put the contestant to task for drinking with her husband’s friend: “Kababae mong tao, pa-shot-shot ka pa.”

Cohost Jose Manalo then asked what she was wearing during the occasion. “Naka-shorts ka ’no?”

Some netizens interpreted the hosts’ remarks as “victim-shaming.”

Eugenio Villareal, MTRCB chair, told the Inquirer that the agency had seen “feedback over social media, many addressed to us,” regarding the matter.

In a memo dated July 11, the board invited representatives of the program to a meeting set on July 21.

The board cited the program’s PG (Parental Guidance) classification, which allows it a younger audience, and the “norms of gender sensitivity under the law (Republic Act No. 9710),” in setting the meeting.

Villareal related: “We have set a dialogue with the show’s producers and the network’s officers…but the board has no jurisdiction over hosts and other personalities. We want to know where the show is coming from. It is premature to say that this is a ‘case’ in an adjudication sense.”

He clarified that the meeting’s purpose is “fact-finding…to look at the segment as a whole. Our letter is very straightforward and does not hint of any accusation or prejudgment.”

Malou Choa-Fagar, senior vice president of Tape Inc. (the show’s producer), said the company has no statement on the issue.

Sotto told the Inquirer: “It’s best to watch the episode and see [it for yourself]. It is completely different from what some netizens are saying.”

Sotto asserted: “The context is simple. I do not approve of married women drinking out at night with men other than their husbands. Her partner left her because of that. That was the point of Jose.”