No ‘Willing Willie’ yet — TV5 says
Two weeks have passed since Willie Revillame announced that his show in the Kapatid network, 'Willing Willie' will be off the air as a result of the alleged child abuse incident with one of the show's contestants, Jan-Jan Suan.
Recently, Willing Willie producers vow of a much-improved version of TV5's nightly variety show upon its return. The question is, when will Willing Willie and its controversial host, Willie Revillame come back on television?
The answer is, definitely not yet this week.
In a text message sent to Yahoo! OMG! Philippines by Willing Willie's executive producer Jay Montelibano, his simple "Not yet," confirmed that Willing Willie will not be on air tonight as anticipated.
TV5's Head of Creative and Entertainment Production Perci Intalan also said in a text message to Yahoo! OMG! Philippines that there is no official and definite word yet on when 'Willing Willie' will return on television.
But rumor has it that the show may likely return on April 30, Saturday or May 2, Monday.
TV5 takes action
During the two week break, TV5 said in a statement it released a few weeks ago that it "will dialogue and work with the MTRCB, KBP, PANA and other stakeholders to come up with appropriate guidelines that will apply to all networks and the entire industry with respect to the participation or use of children in talent, game and reality shows for television. TV5 will also complete the improvement of its internal guidelines and processes to achieve the same end."
Indeed, the Kapatid network came up with its "Guidelines on the Treatment of Children as Viewers, Subjects, Talents or Participants." The guideline as the statement reads, "is a manifestation of the network's sincere intention to implement effective precautionary measures to guarantee that no rights, especially children's rights, will be violated in the production and broadcast of its radio and television programs."
The guideline also states that TV5 will be implementing the presence of a competent child welfare coordinator "to oversee all matters relating to the welfare of children" and a child psychologist who will be "engaged to support the implementation of the Guidelines" The network will also "conduct regular seminars and sensitivity training sessions for all talents and employees in production to ensure that all programs consistently comply with the Guidelines."
Like in the network's previous press statements, the recent press statement also mentioned the Standards Compliance Group (composed of two sub groups, the Standards Advisory Board and the Compliance Section.) The Standards Advisory Board will "formulate and periodically review the Network's broadcast standards and policies" while the the Compliance Section will be responsible for "all programs, plugs, and other non-program materials aired on TV5, AksyonTV, Radyo5, Sports5, as well as on the TV5 and INTERAKSYON websites."
A "viewer mechanism feedback" was also formed to enable viewers to directly contact TV5's Ombudsman through the_tv5_ombudsman@tv5.com.ph Email address. Feedbacks will be treated with confidentiality.
Lastly TV5 affirms its commitment "to comply with other standards that may be formulated by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board [MTRCB], Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas [KBP], the Department of Labor and Employment [DOLE] (e.g., on child talents), and other relevant agencies."
