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Willing Willie episode sparks criticisms ranging from "poor taste" to "child abuse"

by Mark Angelo Ching posted on March 28, 2011  STATS: 257820 Views | 367 Comments

 

Willie Revillame interviews a six-year-old contestant during the March 12 episode of Willing Willie. This particular segment of the TV5 variety primetime program prompted varied reactions from viewers who perceived it as no less than "child abuse."

Photo By: Screen grab from YouTube

A live episode of TV5's Willing Willie has sparked outrage and re-ignited a hate campaign against the program's host, Willie Revillame.

The March 12 episode of the primetime variety and game show featured a six-year-old boy performing a sexy dance multiple times, to the amusement of the studio audience. (CLICK HERE to watch the video.)

In Willie's words, the kid is acting like a "macho dancer"—or in local parlance, a male prostitute.

The name of the kid is Jan-Jan. His aunt, Jocelyn, accompanied him to Willing Willie's Novaliches studio.

This segment of the episode has been uploaded on YouTube, a video-sharing website, where it attracted a number of viewers. At press time, the video has been viewed 291,889 times.

Many video viewers have posted comments. The majority have commented that the segment was "done in poor taste." A number of others have gone so far as to call it "child abuse." There have been many posts of hurtful name-calling. The viewers who placed blame zeroed in on Willie and the boy's parents.

A few entertainment personalities have already weighed in with their opinions—including Lea Salonga, Jim Paredes, Bianca Gonzales, and Kat de Castro. All of them have said that the incident is nothing short of "child abuse."

TALENT PORTION. Willing Willie is a primetime variety and game show on TV5, aired Mondays to Saturdays. It carries a number of games that aims to amuse the audience and to send them home with attractive amounts of cash.

The main segment is called "Wiltime Bigtime." It pits six contestants with each other, each fitting a chosen theme for the day. The themes determine the set of contestants for the day, and can range from housewives to kids to soldiers to jobless men.

"Wiltime Bigtime" has two rounds: the elimination round "Kantanong" and the jackpot round "Spin a Wil."

Willie introduces the contestants one-by-one during "Kantanong." He also interviews all of them, with the end goal of having them reveal the story of their lives. The contestants are quite willing to share a great deal, too.

The contestants are also asked to show off a talent, which will earn them a cash reward. Willie decides how much money he will give a contestant, depending on the talent shown, crowd approval, and the host's own taste. Talents to be demonstrated can be anything: singing, dancing, acting, or even reciting a poem.

WILTIME BIGTIME. A boy called Jan-Jan was one of the contestants in the March 12 edition of "Wiltime Bigtime." All of the six contestants were children.

[Under this subhead, PEP summarizes the contents of the video from YouTube. The ten-minute video has been edited to include only segments featuring Jan-Jan.]

The small boy carried a blank face when he was called to the microphone. This prompted Willie to call Bonel Balingit, a formal basketball player, from the audience. The tall Bonel then stood beside the short Jan-Jan while Willie said, "Ano Jan? Suntukan, gusto mo? Parang naghahamon ka ng away!"

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367 Comments

  • 87  backrider

    03/28/2011 | 11:38 PM
    CONT...KONG HINYO TINATANGKILIK DI MATAGAL NG WALA YAN SA ERE. I DONT WATCH HIS SHOW. NAG COMMENT AKO TO ENLIGHTEN YOU PEOPLE NA MAHILIG MANOOD NG SHOW NYA. HE HE
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  • 86  backrider

    03/28/2011 | 11:37 PM
    ANONG BAGO DITO.... KAYO LANG NMAN ANG MAHILIG TUMANGKILIK SA SHOW NYA...
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  • 85  usagurl

    03/28/2011 | 11:31 PM
    remyr hindi ka lang malisyoso may pag kabobo ka rin.
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  • 84  usagurl

    03/28/2011 | 11:29 PM
    remyr12 I don't want to fight anybody here, just giving my opinion about the show. may pag ka crab mentality ka rin ata, I hope you understand the kid is showing his talent. It is a talent show. umiiyak man yon or tumatawa ang bata habang sumasayaw is still considered as his talent, mag isip isip nga kayo muna bago mag comment dahil yong value na sinasabi nyo hindi mismo makita at naririnig sa mga bibig nyo mga malisyoso.
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  • 83  kokuryu

    03/28/2011 | 11:27 PM
    really? you consider macho dancing talent? eh kung ganun dapat ang mga macho dancers magpeperform sa PGT o talentadong pinoy.... at dapat mga bata rin ha... tingnan natin... hahaha now i know kung hu ang mga fans ni willie. gaya din nya,...
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  • 82  nensky

    03/28/2011 | 11:23 PM
    reality bites...
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  • 81  leenavi

    03/28/2011 | 11:09 PM
    Willie, Money does not buy class, yun lang!
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  • 80  litalitz

    03/28/2011 | 11:06 PM
    napanood ko yong video wala nman akong nakitang kalaswaan don parang sayaw bata lang ang ginawa nong bata, kc mga bata ngayon palibhasa napapanood nl s tv ginagaya nl eh, ceguro kong mag over react klang at medyo galit k willie bibigyan nyo ng kahulugan yon ginawa non bata pero s akin wala kc akong galit tingin ko ok lang yon, ang masama kong habang nagsasayaw yon bata pinaghuhubad hindi talaga maganda, sk s mga show nman katuwaan ang mga ganon. nataon lang talaga n marami galit k willie. opinion ko lang po ito.
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  • 79  anchor24

    03/28/2011 | 11:05 PM
    ano na? kukunin ba nilang talent yung bata o hindi? kasi yun di ba yung bukambibig nung tatay na desperadong mapansin yung anak niya. yung tatay niya ba sumali na yun dati sa wowowee? familiar siya eh. baka naman pag walang kinahantungan yang gustong pag-artistahin na bata eh ilako na nila yang anak nila. hintayin nating lumaki pa ng unti yung anak na babae. baka pasalihin din sa contest tapos ituro naman nila pang-agogo dance na talent. hay ewan!
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  • 78  usagurl

    03/28/2011 | 11:04 PM
    Kaya hindi uma asenso ang Pilipinas dahil sa crab mentality ng ibang Filipino, mga malisyoso na wala sa lugar. I am hundred percent sure na si Janjan when he's dancing he just want to show he's talent and not feeling abused or anything else. When you said that the show or Willie abused him, you are the one that put malice to the kid. Wag nyong turuan ang bata maging malisyoso.
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  • 77  remyr12

    03/28/2011 | 11:03 PM
    usagirl..hmm, with the reasoning that you have..sige ganito ang gawin mo sa 6year old child mo. Teach him to do 'ala macho dancer' moves. Now, have him perform infront of your child's class or a big group with the gyrating movements, dapat nandoon din ang mga magulang ng ibang bata and then have someone comment the same comment that Willie made. Nasa US ka siguro no, kasi USAGIRL ang gamit mo. Sige, if this illicit discomfort among the audiences and other parents, ibig sabihin may mali dito dahil ang moral values ng tao is at work. Now, let us see kung hindi kunin sa iyo ng Dept of Child Services ang anak mo at hindi idemanda ng state or city yung organization na pinagsayawan ng tao at yung taong host mo. I suppose you wouldn't want your child to be subjected to such act and will not teach your child this way too.
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  • 76  usagurl

    03/28/2011 | 10:53 PM
    Jan-jan is very cute no wonder natutuwa si Willie sa kanya. Wala akong nakita na masama or abuse act ni Willie sa bata. I have 6 yrs old son na kasing cute ni Janjan na pagmayhinihinge na hindi ko binibigay umiyak, pero kahit umiiyak sya he's still very cute in a way na kahit anong sabihin ko sa kanya ginagawa pa rin nya habang umiiyak. Jan jan look so smart and very cute showing his talent, binigyan lang ng malice ng mga viewers ang nangyari.
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  • 75  okidokimac

    03/28/2011 | 10:48 PM
    *** This comment has been deactivated due to inappropriate content ***
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  • 74  alkassim

    03/28/2011 | 10:43 PM
    sus!umatake na naman si taning! ito ang paraan ni willie para magpapansin..para pag usapan na naman sya..papansin kasi ang taong to.. di ko pa naman napapanood ang video..pero halatang gawa gawa nila to...haist!
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  • 73  inquisitive

    03/28/2011 | 10:42 PM
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  • 72  remyr12

    03/28/2011 | 10:29 PM
    tranexamic Agree ako sa iyo. The child being a child, a minor, does not readily understand what is happening or what is being asked for him to do. Kaya nga bata, at may laws for this to protect the children. Kasi their minds and brains are not yet fully developed. Willie, and the producers of his show, are adults, they should already know, na having a child act that way is inappropriate for his age and appropriate to show in national tv. Also, yung mga words na binitawan ni Willie is not also appropriate. To tell the whole world that bata pa lang nagtratrabaho na ng ganoon parang burlesque para sa pamilya is low. Ang magulang may kasalan to subject their child to this. Si Willie and the show may kasalanan dahil pinayagan nilang gawin ito. This is child abuse and child endangerment. Hindi ba nila naiisip na this child may be exposed to pedophilia?
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  • 71  inquisitive

    03/28/2011 | 10:28 PM
    *** This comment has been deactivated due to inappropriate content ***
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  • 70  paprince

    03/28/2011 | 10:27 PM
    Blame it on Willie Revillame's poor breeding, you can't buy good breeding haaays talagang napakababa na talaga ng moral standards ng mga tao
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  • 69  dats_entertainment

    03/28/2011 | 10:25 PM
    grabeh! ive seen the video. Talagang pinag laruan nila ang bata. Let us assume, it is a talent, but then they keep on repeating it para ma njoy nila ang 'talent'. That was the shameful thing they did. Bakit ang ibang batang super galing ang talent they never have done that. Talagang binigyan ng malasyang meaning ni Willie o ng staff. Really shameful!
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  • 68  amethystblues

    03/28/2011 | 10:23 PM
    kawawa yung bata at naturuan ng ganun ng mga magulang...ito naman si willie, tuwang tuwa naman sa bata, pina ulit ulit pa ng sayaw...it is definitely exploitation sa bata... sa mga nag iisip na OK lang ito, aba, mahiya kayo!
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