[OPINION] Spit and spat: The Yulo family shebang
Double gold medals in the recent Olympics. A P20 million cash bonus from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Another P20 million as mandated by Republic Act 10699. The House of Representatives weighs to the tune of P14 million. Five other sources offer P3M to P5M. A chain of product endorsements. High-flying celebrity status.
All these come with a ritzy P32-million condominium unit, two houses and lots, frequent flyer miles from two top airlines, crowned with all the buffet meals and lifetime free pizza one can gorge without choking on Italian sausage. That’s just scratching the triple-cheese surface.
Reminds me of Leonardo di Caprio's Jack Dawson in the Titanic screaming, “I’m on top of the world!” with a sumptuous slice of Meat Lovers in one hand and the applause of Filipino sports fans in the other.
Filipino gymnast Carlos Yulo had everything going for him – and rightly so – up until the virtual starboard scraped the iceberg. All so suddenly, the right side of the hull splintered and cracked, leaving the unsinkable moment nosediving into the cold murky waters of the internet.
Wading across all this social media sauce épicée is something I would rather reserve for a freezing Christmas day. But then it gets to the point of being intolerable, in fact repugnant, if you really think about it. This sick fondness for the sassy and scandalous has gone overboard, and to what final destination? No one knows for certain.
For sure, progress is the least of the hullabaloo’s goals, to say nothing of the improvement of the moral standards of many. There is something in the foggy private lives of famous people that titillates the voyeur within. And voyeurs we all are in our own kinky little ways, given our fondness for telenovela slapathons and closet-wide third-party liaisons.
But this one is particularly different. Carlos’ win forced into the open familial relations that have been hanging in the balance for years. A son’s disenchantment with his mother; a mother’s disappointment with her son.
Are we here dealing with the question of who is right and who is wrong? Is the social media discourse on what happened behind the scenes of familial conflict aimed at fixing anything?
Or is the whole shebang just another stab at trying to satisfy the voyeur’s craving for naked controversy? Is the mainstream media to blame for the internet ruckus?
When I sat for 11 years as editor-in-chief of a political and literary magazine, I had this one rule: Family problems, unless they affect the nation as a whole, must be considered private. For me, journalism is not into rumormongering. Respectability and integrity must be its overarching goals, the truth its final stand.
Anything for the sake of sensationalism will not see the light of day, I don't care how juicy the story is. There is a sacredness to family relationships and the people's right to privacy that even our right to know must somehow respect.
All the editors held to that principle without compromise. I hold to this principle to this day. However, if your family screws up my country, we will dig so deep into your pile of *bleep* your ancestors will rue the day they were born.
But then again, blaming the media may be stretching the accusing finger much farther than it can actually go. Didn’t the Yulos themselves open this Pandora’s Box for public consumption? In the scheme of social media culture, aren’t they to blame?
We’ve all heard it said that there is a good side and a bad side to social media. And while I am a fierce advocate of intelligently discussing topics online, such as politics to anything as close to home as familial relationships, there ought to be times when we must refuse to push the “enter” button.
Why? Because sharing opinions on issues whose full story we are, at the very least, ignorant of will only leave us none the wiser. Worse, there is a good chance we might end up extinguishing a moment we may never be able to gain again.
And that moment is this: Carlos Yulo won for the country two gold medals. Two gold medals in a sports category that is as difficult as it is grand. Aira Villegas won the bronze in Women’s Flyweight boxing, while Nesty Petecio another bronze in the Women’s Featherweight.
In and by themselves, these are achievements to marvel at. As netizens, we are not required to dish out P40 million if only to show our appreciation. We can give them our applause and our respect.
Respect our Filipino athletes. They have surely earned it.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinions of PhilSTAR L!fe, its parent company and affiliates, or its staff.