Macoy Dubs Skewers China in Satire, 'The 6.12 West Philippine Sale'
Does the West Philippine Sea belong to the Philippines? The UN-backed International Court on Permanent Arbitration based in Hague says so, but public sentiment is divided.
Enter We The Pvblic. Based in Manila, the digital publication raised awareness on the issue, wanting to sway public opinion and spirit towards ownership.
Dubbed “The 6.12 West Philippine Sale”, the online event starred digital funnyman Macoy Averilla, aka Macoy Dubs, as he presented the West Philippine Sea and discussed reasons why it’s important to claim it with a resounding “Mine.”
Viewers claimed ownership of the West Philippine Sea by saying “Mine” in the comments section. Everyone who participated received a digital souvenir of their “claim”. Participation was free. The show happened last June 12, in celebration of the Philippines’ Independence Day. We The Pvblic used its Facebook page to stream the show for free.
Although dubbed as an “online selling event”, the event was purely satirical and did not entail actual purchase of anything. Viewer data showed claims of “Mine” came from all over the Philippines, and even from some viewers abroad. With the show of interest from its viewers, We The Pvblic hinted at more live shows to stream on its platform in the future.
Senators Kiko Pangilinan and Risa Hontiveros were among the guests in the show.
“Almost double our land area-that’s how big our exclusive economic zone or EEZ is” said Pangilinan in a dialogue with Macoy. The senator was joined by Hontiveros, and the chairman of Ang Pamalakaya, Ka Pando Hicap.
According to Hontiveros, Filipinos are losing billions of pesos every year because we couldn’t protect the West Philippine Sea.
“Our losses will reach over P1 Trillion by next year,” said Hontiveros. “That’s money we can be using for pandemic response and for fighting recession.”
The show was formatted like a Facebook “online selling”.
“We want people to understand how important it is to claim ownership of the region, and to instill in our readers the sense of citizen participation that is enabled by the digital platform,” says We The Pvblic publisher Josser Quilendrino.
“When we tell them to ‘join the movement’, this is what we mean.”
Watch "The 6.12 West Philippine Sale" below.
