Bagito, exploiting innocence?

Bagito: Pilot Episode

           

            Having a wide scope of audience ranging from young kids to matured adults brings us to the difficulty of filtering appropriate shows. When it comes to showing programs on television, sensitivity and sensibility is a must especially if we will consider the wide array of spectators who can obviously see what is shown. What may seem as an “eye-opener” that improves moral values for others may be unethical and vulgar for some people. And with that comes the issues intertwined with ABS-CBN’s new teleserye, Bagito.

            The story of Bagito follows the life of a 14-year-old boy who goes through the boon and bane of puberty, his teenage life and at the same time, the responsibility of being a young father.

            In the pilot episode of the said teleserye, there were already a lot of flaws than can be noticed. There was a part where Nash Aguas who plays “Andrew,” together with his friends, naughtily sneaked into the girl’s changing room. According to Article 25 sec. 3 of the KBP Broadcast Code of the Philippines, “Explicit depiction of sexual acts, sexual perversions, and nudity are prohibited”. The mere act of “sneaking” into the changing room of the opposite sex is an act of disrespecting their privacy—an act of sexual perversion.

            Another example of unethical portrayals from the same episode was a scene after Andrew’s 14^th birthday, when they went to a bar—of which in the very first place is inappropriate for minors like them. Sensationalizing the minds of the audiences that anyone at the age of 14 is already entitled to such behavior is really wrong.

            Furthermore, another example is the scene where Andrew and his friends deliberately showed how to actually kiss, or make a move to catch the attention of the girls. Though it may have been intended as a joke by Andrew and his friends as a part of that certain scene, still the mere portrayal of such acts are indecent in terms of putting at stake the number of audiences—young or old—who may more likely react negatively on such acts which are televised. In support to this, KBP Code’s Article 11 Sec. 11 states that “Children should not be made to perform acts that are vulgar, obscene, indecent, or inappropriate for children.”

            It can be said that one of the main purposes of the teleserye, Bagito is for social awareness aligned with the advocacy of the Philippine government about teenage pregnancy, pre-marital sex, etc. However, not all audiences are aware of the real objective of the show and others may interpret the context of the story the other way around. With this, I would like to suggest that utmost care should be taken in portraying these actions considering that a whole nation of varying ages is the audience of this televised drama.

            The pilot episode of Bagito is just the beginning of more issues that may pop out in the long run. Hopefully, ABS-CBN can find a way to promote the moral advocacy of the show prioritizing the preservation of the dignity and innocence of people particularly the child cast members and the young audiences.

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