Not only Scarborough Shoal, but also Jessica Sanchez
Like the case of Scarborough Shoal, Filipinos are claiming something that is not their own – Jessica Sanchez. If we were to add other names, we can include Bruno Mars and Enrique Iglesias.On TV, on the radio, in print media, in public and everywhere you go in the country, there are talks of a Filipino who’s making it big in American Idol.
It’s just frustrating to hear Jessica’s Filipino fans attacking Phillip Phillips, Joshua Ledet and other Idol contestants. They said that Joshua is always screaming and Phillip has no talent. Star World even dubbed Phillips an underdog in their American Idol Finale teaser. That didn’t sound good and fair considering how they praise Jessica Sanchez. Perhaps Filipinos don’t appreciate Joshua’s old-school approach to soul music and blue-eyed soul style of Phillips. If they didn’t like Skylar Laine, it’s all because we don’t have country music and we don’t appreciate the twang.
Even the President and the Vice President had a public announcement of support for Jessica – so as Charice and Manny Pacquiao. I wonder if Jessica even knows who Noynoy and Binay are. Jessica doesn’t even know Billy Joel (or is it just attitude). The CBCP also brought up their support by urging Pinoys to vote for Jessica. ABS-CBN stars had a campaign in a social networking site. They even had a tribute production in ASAP as if the songs that they used were Jessica’s own. Residents of Samal Bataan even had banners calling Jessica their kababayan. How can you call a person kababayan when that person hasn’t gone to your place yet? If eating dinuguan makes a person Filipino, then by eating French Fries, I can be French (my apology, French Fries originated in Belgium).
Filipino fans even created posts on how to vote for Jessica if you’re outside of the US. It’s a good thing that those votes are not counted. It’s a shame on us Filipinos doing that. It’s cheating.
“How to Vote for Jessica Sanchez from the Philippines and Other Non-US Countries
Here’s the procedure:
If you have Magic Jack or NetTalk phones in Pinas, you can vote for Jessica by dialing the toll free number that will be assigned to her after the American Idol show. Check the American Idol website or Jessica Sanchez facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jessica-Sa… to find out the toll free number she got for that episode. You have 2 chances to vote: 10am-12noon and 1pm-3pm on Thursday Manila time. If you get busy tone (try at least twice to be sure) on the first time slot, that means your Magic Jack or NetTalk phone has a West Coast number, so trying dialing on the second time slot (1-3pm). You can vote as many times as you want via dial method. If you get a busy tone, it means the voting is closed.
If you don’t have Magic Jack or Nettalk phone, you can also try dialing from your computer using Skype for free. If you got busy tone on the first time slot, try the second time slot. If you have Skype app on your smartphones, that should work too.
And here’s another way to vote for Jessica. On your Facebook account, click on the following LINK today, Thursday, around 11am to 3pm Philippine time to cast your vote:”
There was a rumor that Jessica avoided a Filipino reporter when asked what she can say to her Filipino fans. Well, that was a rumor. If we heard that Jessica were not a daughter of the American-Mexican father and is a pure Filipino, that was a rumor too.
Filipinos are claiming that Jessica is a Filipino for just one basis – her mother is Pinoy (like how we claim the Scarborough Shoal for just a recently drafted law). If we will consider nationality, residency and citizenship, somehow Jessica is 1/6 Filipino, only because there is mention of lineage in the definition of nationality. But this is not enough to be the reason for all these hypes.
The Philippine radios are now waiting for Jessica to be #1 in radio charts. Record label dropout David Archuleta has been #1 in Myx with his karaoke version of “Forevermore” for a long time now. They must be waiting for Jessica to knock him off the top spot. It’s either they fix their chart shows or the diehard fans vote a hundred times each, or really the Philippine entertainment is home of overrated artists.
This time, they are saying that Phillip Phillips’ chance of winning is due to the female teen fans that comprise most of the Idol viewers. Aren’t the bluejays and the Phil-AM Community doing the same thing with what they call voting party every Wednesday for Jessica? Let’s take note that Idol viewer ratings declined this season and that could possibly include the ones in the teenage bracket (the ones that we claim to be Phillips’ supporters).
I heard on the news that Jessica, like Manny Pacquiao is a unifier. She could make us Filipinos and even Asians unite temporarily. After the hype, there go the ills of the society again. Speaking of that, we still have the Scarborough Shoal issue to handle.
It’s sad that Jessica Sanchez became the subject of our greed for international recognition.
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