Movie star-turned-congressman Richard Gomez doesn't favor totally banning Korean dramas (K-dramas) or foreign-produced programs in the Philippines, but he does see some sense in trying to "limit" them.
Gomez had this to say to reporters on the sidelines of Leyte City’s Diamond Jubilee or 75th year celebration Wednesday, Oct. 19. He represents Leyte province’s 4th district in Congress.
“Para sa akin, limit na lang siguro ang pagpapalabas ng mga (For me, let's just limit the showing of these) foreign shows to give more time to local shows. Mahirap kasing mag-ban, mawawala ang freedom of choice ng mga tao (Banning the foreign shows is difficult since the people would lose their freedom of choice)," he reckoned.
But the neophyte solon in the 19th Congress was quick to admit that controlling Filipinos' watching habits would be "impossible" give the advent of streaming services like Netflix, which streams these foreign series on personal devices like mobile phones.
“Mahirap talagang control (It's really hard to control). On the other hand, it is about time for the Filipino teledramas na taasan ang quality ng kanilang product para (to step up the quality of their product so that) they can compete internationally,” said the multi-awarded actor.
Gomez insisted that local artists aren't lacking in talent, as shown by the awards they've won in international competitions.
"The talent is there, tingin ko wala tayong kulang sa talent, very talented ang mga Pinoy, nagiging Congressman pa nga (I don't think we lack talent, Filipino actors are very talented, some even become congressmen),” he said, cracking a joke.
“Ang production value ang (It's the production value that's) important at this time. Mahirap mag-compete sa magandang production value; maganda yung story pero pag kulang sa quality, hindi din competitive (It's hard to compete against a product with good production value; even if the story is good but the quality is poor, it won't be competitive),” the Leyte solon added.
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Talks about the possibility of banning K-dramas in the Philippines was triggered after Senator Jinggoy Estrada, another former actor, aired his frustration over the public and the government's lack of support for locally-made shows.
Estrada has since clarified that such ban merely crossed his mind and that there was no actual proposal for it.