Will Showbiz Beckon Sebastian Duterte?

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Perhaps it was President Marcos who started the marriage between politics and showbiz with the movie “Iginuhit ng Tadhana.” This was a movie produced in 1965 which detailed the life of former Martial Law president Ferdinand Marcos. It was a huge hit, but it took nearly twenty years for the merging of politics and movies to be finally completed.  However, it was not through a Marcos but of an Aquino.  Marcos’ daughter Imee Marcos was active in showbiz but not as an actor or performer but hemming the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines which produced CNN’s Greatest Asian Movie of All Time “HIMALA” which starred Nora Aunor. 

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Kris Aquino Showbiz Foray

Kris Aquino's foray into showbiz was celebrated as her first movie “PIDO DIDA” broke box office records at that time and she had a roller coaster ride in showbiz.  After Cory stepped down and Ramos' presidency took over, the trend of merging showbiz and politics continued; however, with not much of a success to speak of.  While erstwhile First Lady Ming Ramos held piano concerts from time to time, presidential daughter Jo Ramos attempted a showbiz career but only ended up with a failed marriage with Lloyd Samartino as her showbiz landmark.  Then came Estrada presidency and of course his son Jinggoy tried to capitalize the presidency and only ended up with mild success at the box office.

Mikey Arroyo’s Dismal Showbiz Career

The marriage of politics and showbiz extended into the GMA administration when her son Mikey Arroyo tried several times to capture fans with formulaic action movies and fortunately fans did not lap it up and he went on to become one of the most controversial politicians ever with issues of graft and corruption hounding him and the entire Arroyo family.  

While Benigno Simeon Aquino III is single, it doesn’t mean that the marriage won’t continue. Not only has his sister extended her showbiz life, his nephew also managed to snatch a movie and went on to beat foreign box office giants according to the mother. 

Baste Duterte’s Turn?

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Come June 30, 2016 when the Philippines will install a new president and before that, his son Sebastian Duterte is already making waves over the Internet.  Reviewing tweets and Facebook posts about him, it seems that movie fans are swooning again.  He gained instant popularity to the point that netizens are already making funny tweets involving him.  Some girls are posting about dreaming a relationship with him, some gays encouraging him to appear on TV, particularly with GGV (Gandang Gabi Vice.)  The hashtag #RP69Fanfic is trending and Twitter fans have a heyday lapping humorous tweets supposedly coming from Baste and other children of presidential candidates.

Screen grab from Twitter

Why Showbiz Will Beckon Him

It won’t be long whenmovie producers will take notice of his popularity; Mother Lily are you interested?  He has the looks and probably he can fill in Robin Padilla’s shoes by appearing in action movies with “Bad Boy" persona and "Robin Hood” character.  With 15 million votes gathered for his father to win the presidency, you can just imagine how huge the box-office success of his movies even if only a half of those will see it. At P150 on average ticket price, it will be over a billion pesos box office returns.  Very huge indeed. 

There is nothing wrong with showbiz and politics merging together and this time, it is hoped that if and when Baste Duterte will become a showbiz permanent fixture, he should promote quality movies.  He should foster a showbiz legacy that is unique for him where he will be remembered as the star of many award winning films instead of stupid, formulaic, and dumb Pinoy action movies.  He should be remembered as the one who transformed Pinoy movie fans into intelligent movie going public.