SAGIP Party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta has criticized Philippine-made telenovelas or dramas as being too predictable and overall less interesting when compared to Korean dramas, or K-dramas.
Marcoleta, during a recent episode of Net 25's Sa Ganang Mamamayan, commented on an alleged proposal from a certain senator to ban K-dramas in the Philippines as a way to muster support for locally-produced dramas.
"Gusto ko yun marami kang mapagpipilian (I want to have a lot of choices)," he said, referring to dramas.
Regarding local dramas, Marcoleta had this to say: "Eh papaano kasi kapag pinagkumpara mo, magagaling nga yung ating mga artista (When you compare it to K-dramas, the artists are really good). No questions about that. Magagaling (They're good)."
"Pero pagka-sinuma mo naman, kapag sinukat mo yung nobela o kaya yung drama, parang walang kinapupuntahan. Parang kabisado mo na kung pupunta sa kanal ito o hindi (But if you summarize it, if you measure the novela or the drama, it seems like it's going nowhere. You already know if it's going to the drainage or not)," he said.
K-dramas, on the other hand, have better story, according to Marcoleta.
"Hindi nga sila masyadong magaling umarte, pero yung takbo ng story naman...lalung lalo kasi, yung lipunan nila kasi ay naiiba kaya maeengganyo ka, 'Ganun pala sa kanila.' Mayroon kang natututuhan (The artists may not be so good at acting, but it's the flow of the story...especially when it comes to their society, it's different from ours so it will pique your interest, 'Oh, they're like that. You get to learn something)," he explained.
"Pero sa atin, kilalang kilala mo na yung komunidad na yun, 'Oh squatters' area yan eh.' Dyan pa sila magtatampisaw na kung anu-anong klaseng pagda-dramahan...wala ka ng mapupulot eh (But when it comes to our dramas, you're already familiar with the community, 'Oh that's a squatters' area.' They'll use that as setting for whatever dramatic conversation...you can't pick up anything new)," the former deputy speaker said.
Pointing to K-dramas, Marcoleta said: "Yung kultura kasi naipapakita nila, at tayo mismo nakikita natin at sabi natin, 'Oo nga ano. Sana ma-adopt din satin yung ganun (They are able to show their culture and we ourselves get to say, 'Oh right. I hope we could adopt that too).'"
"Eh sa ating mga telenovela, aba eh kapag nagkita yung bida at tsaka kontrabida, alam mo na yung pag-uusapan nila eh. Mauuwi na lang sa suntukan yun dyan (As for our telenovelas, whenever the protagonist meets the antagonist, you already know what they will talk about. There's going to be a quarrel)," he further said.