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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: 259783 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

  • 227  lotion123

    03/29/2011 | 01:16 PM
    yrs ago when my daughters were auditioning for little miss phils, there were some kids who were dancing like bar dancers. the staff of the show said to the moms.." mommy..di po appropriate ung dance moves sa idad ng bata..masyado pong pang adult at sexy..palitan nyo po ung moves." willie and the staff should have done the same thing.kaso they dont know nga whats appropriate and whats not. pero di lang sila ang ganito..sad to say majority ng pinoy o kahit citizen pa ng ibang bansa..they dont know that this is some form of child exploitation. sad..
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  • 226  lotion123

    03/29/2011 | 01:06 PM
    this is just one of the many things that make me really sad about my kababayans...the fact that they are being used abused exploited, either they dont totally know what is being done to them or they just turn a blind eye all in exchange for a few thousand pesos. inaalipusta na..nakatawa pa... nakakaawa. niloko na ,chi neat na..hindi pa alam o dahil sa kultura na sadyang inherent sa mga filipino..dahil ayaw ng gulo, nag sasawalang kibo na lang.
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  • 225  sasha19

    03/29/2011 | 12:38 PM
    exaggerated ang uber OA..gustong mag artista ng bata, gustong magpadiscover parang bang nagaaudition, kulang na lang lumupasay sa kakangawa..at tumambling para ipakita ang talent..ayan sikat na si Janjan!
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  • 224  whattawhatta

    03/29/2011 | 12:35 PM
    d worst part der was nung pinapatong pa ang bata at pinasayaw ulit den nag hihiyawan na ang mga dancers looking up at him...dat was way too much...not to mention yung mga binitiwang salita ni willie..sana naman f dey really want to bring joy and help people, dey do it not in a way na masyadaong ini exploit ang kahirapan ng tao..ang definition ng saya nila is kailangan magmukhang katawa tawa at kahiya hiya ang contestant and den by dat willie decides gaano ka laki ang ibigay..it is just so demeaning...masyadong pinababa ang pagkatao ng mga taong mababang mababa na nga ang estado ng buhay..
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  • 223  greencardholder

    03/29/2011 | 12:34 PM
    dun sa mga pinagkaitan ng utak, pag isipan ninyo ito ha. ang batang nag se sexy dance talagang cute yan babae man o lalake kung kayo kayo lang o nasa bahay lang siguro pero ibang usapan yung ipapapanood mo ito sa buong madla, tapos may magsasalitang isa itong macho dancer na ginagawa ito para sa pamilya at sasabayan din ng mga mahahalay na staff nya. at nagkataon si WIllie pa na ang reputasyon eh,, hahahaha! ewan ko sa inyo! lol!
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  • 222  greencardholder

    03/29/2011 | 12:31 PM
    *** This comment has been deactivated due to inappropriate content ***
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  • 221  superior693

    03/29/2011 | 12:20 PM
    wow mukhang palala ng palala ang usapan dito napunta na sa pedophile at kung ano ano , eh nagsayaw lang ang bata nd ba maliwanag sa inyo yan nagsayaw lang ang dami namang bata na nagsasayaw na mas matindi pa dyan eh bakit walang issue na ganyan babanggit ako pero wlang magreact mas matindi un sayaw ng mga bata un otso otso nuon mas mahalay tingnan eh bat wlang nagreact un kumembot lang un bata eh nahalayan kayo masyado naman kayong sensitive at conservative, bakit puro negative ang isip nyo, iba naman ang pedophile sa sayaw or kembot at may magulang un bata na tumitingin at alam nilang di mali ang ginagawa ng anak nila wala tayong pakialam duon , open ur mind naman dudumi ng isip nyo kc hehheehhe
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  • 220  Americangirl

    03/29/2011 | 12:20 PM
    Watching it on YT made me very sick to my stomach. I cant believe at first that what I was seeing has real. It reminds of Sodom and Gomorrah. Let's not forget who the victim in this story. It is a 6 year old who suffered abuse and intense humiliation on live television.
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  • 219  Americangirl

    03/29/2011 | 12:14 PM
    219 Yagitako--- Anong perceived by certain factions of the community ang pinasasabi mo? What happened to the child on Revillame's show was WRONG...period. It was CHILD ABUSE on Live Television. Please remember that the VICTIM in this story is the six year old innocent child and NOT Revillame. So PlEASE, stop justifying the the digusting SICKENING behavior that Revillame showed.
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  • 218  nelly1958

    03/29/2011 | 12:14 PM
    *** This comment has been deactivated due to inappropriate content ***
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  • 217  shobizaddict

    03/29/2011 | 12:02 PM
    dun naman sa mga natuwa at naaliw sa ipinakitang talent ng bata, kung anak nyo yun at merong mga pedophile sa studio audience o tv audience, matutuwa pa rin ba kayo kung alam nyo na merong napaligaya, na ibang kahulugan ng salitang yan?
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  • 216  matthewchristian

    03/29/2011 | 11:51 AM
    Dancing is a talent. The malice and the abuse did not come from the kid himself, it came from the so-called adults that are surrounding the kid, and these adults included Willie. He has the moral responsibility to self-regulate because he is the host. Besides, nobody in the studio could prevent the said scene from happening except Willie himself. That’s the reason why he is at fault here. To add insult to the injured, the way Willie described what the boy was doing, was way off the mark, he just did not abuse the child by playing nasty jokes, he also abused the oppressed and the underprivileged with his stereotype remarks. Entertainers have a big role to play in our society. If the people will tolerate this kind of entertainment, as what the show’s defenders are trying to do now, don’t be surprised if Filipinos’ morality will depreciate faster than we could ever imagined. It’s high time Filipinos are treated with a different form of entertainment, something that will contribute to the maturity and intelligenc
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  • 215  superior693

    03/29/2011 | 11:45 AM
    wow naman bago magreact manood muna kung ano ang cnabi ng tatay ni JanJan sa pera na natanggap nya kay Jan jan napunta ang pera binili ng bike at iba pang gusto ng bata so nagamit ng bata ang pera, let say na may natira cgurado eh ano naman ang problema dun eh magulang nya un may karapatan din ang magulang na hawakan ang perang natira kung may natira man wala na tayong pakialam dun problema nila un , sus daming pakialamero inggit lang yata kayo eh , bakit daming inis na inis dyan nakakaloka kayo hehehehe.....
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  • 214  7100

    03/29/2011 | 11:43 AM
    May mga magulang talaga na tinuturuan ng mali ang anak para lang kumita. Siguro sa tingin nila wala namang masama duon dahil hindi naman sila nagnanakaw para mabuhay. Ang problema, para na rin nilang sinabi sa bata na okay lang maging macho dancer pag laki nya. Nakalulungkot isipin na paulit-ulit na pinagsayaw ni WR ang bata at tuwang-tuwa ang mga tao kahit na halatang di masaya ang bata sa ginagawa nya. Ganito na ba kababa ang moralidad ng Pilipino? Sana di na ito maulit and magbago si WR. Sana huwag lang maging pera-pera ang show nya. Sana magturo rin ito ng magagandang aral sa buhay ng mga tao.
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  • 213  shobizaddict

    03/29/2011 | 11:39 AM
    dun sa mga willie defenders, nag apoligize na ang TV5 kaya tumigil na kayo. may mali kaya nag apologize, yun lang yun.
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  • 212  shobizaddict

    03/29/2011 | 11:37 AM
    sabi ni willie napapaiyak yung bata dahil naiisip yung magulang at kailangang gawin para makatulong. baliko talaga mga rason nitong taong 'to. naiiyak yung bata dahil he was overwhelmed, plain and simple. at saka ang daming sayaw na pwedeng ituro dun sa bata bakit yung ganong klase pa ng sayaw? siguro may mga staff naisip na di maganda kaya lang sino ang matapang na sabihan si willie na tama na?
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  • 211  camcam123

    03/29/2011 | 11:36 AM
    Abangan sa wiling wiling a seven year-old girl dancing as beer house dancer.Siguro matutuwa rin ang familya nyan...Baka sa biernes abangan sa wiling wili
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  • 210  boytroso69

    03/29/2011 | 11:34 AM
    exploited talaga si jan-jan don sa show,pero sino ba talaga ang dapat sisihin. si willie na sumobra ligalig sa pag-giling nung bata, mga magulang at tiyahin ni jan-jan na mukhang sanay sa mga pinag-gagawa ni jan-jan, o ang audience na mukhang tuwang-tuwa sa mga ganitong gimik ng mga bata?also,though i dont have an opinion on willie,kitang-kita naman na laging nag-hihintay ang mga kaaway niya ng opportunity para masiraan siya.suwerte niyo lang di nagkukulang si willie ng kalokohan,pero wag naman sana kayong obvious na haters
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  • 209  StocksAndBonds

    03/29/2011 | 11:27 AM
    bakit daw nagre-react ang mga tao gayung ang pamilya mismo ng bata ay natuwa pa sa nangyari. yun na nga ang problema eh. katuwaan nila, kahirapan ng bata. syempre natutuwa sila dahil yung pera sa kanila naman mapupunta, sa tingin mo ba direcho sa piggy bank nung bata ang prize niya???? hindi po!!!! swerte niya na lang kung bilhan siya ng bagong tsinelas at isang scoop ng ice cream! mistulang puppet lang ang bata at ang pamilya at si willie ang puppetteers.
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  • 208  Janis74

    03/29/2011 | 11:26 AM
    Yes thats really Willie, Is there any new? just same as usual.
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