Sex trounces H1N1 and North Korea in Manila
Unlike Singapore news that is almost always fixated on all boom, doom, and stale gloom, news from Manila has always been irreverently irrelevant you'd think nothing extraordinary happens at all. For the past few weeks, Manila has been fixated on the surfacing of several sex videos involving a doctor/celebrity/model and several starlets. If you think those photos of Edison Chen were scandalous (or yummy, depending on your persuasion), these videos are on a different-queerclick league (NSFW) of its own.
In keeping with the irrelevant theme, even lawmakers have been happily dissecting the sex videos using precious senate time - all in the "aid of legislation."; though for whatever form of legislation lawmakers intend to use the information escapes me. So the culprit was hauled into the August halls of the Senate, and made to answer questions like - what software did you use? where did you place the camera? Not surprisingly, those who were doing the grilling were actors themselves. (Finally, they are tackling something that they are comfortable with. Leave the heavy stuff like poverty to the serious legislators).
So while the world is worried about the economy, North Korea and H1N1, Filipinos think that a sex video takes precedence. And that, my friends, explains why the Philippines is where it is in the global economy.