COTABATO CITY – Tinuligsa kahapon ng pamunuan ng Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) ang Eat Bulaga sa panlilibak nito sa kasuotang Muslim bilang isang Halloween costume nitong Sabado.
Si ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman “takes offense at and is appalled by the stunt pulled on national TV by noontime show Eat Bulaga on Saturday, October 31—where hosts Joey de Leon and Sen. Tito Sotto came out dressed as Muslims for their Halloween Special,” ayon kay Regional Information Bureau Director Amir Mawalil.
Sinabi ni Mawalil na hiling ngayon ni Hataman na humingi ng paumanhin ang pamunuan at mga host ng Eat Bulaga dahil ang mga ito “equated the Muslim garb as a costume to be feared in the way that zombies and ghouls are to be feared.”
“We remind the hosts and the producers of the show of how Muslims are quite often discriminated against in our society, often stereotyped as troublemakers and terrorists… What Eat Bulaga did in its Halloween Special was a mockery of and an affront to the image of the Muslim, apparently in the name of entertainment,” ayon kay Mawalil ay sinabi ng ARMM governor.
Isang linggo na ang nakalilipas nang batikusin ng mga Muslim official, sa pangunguna ni Hataman, ang “stereotypical presentation” ng National Bureau of Investigation sa isang suspek sa pambobomba sa Zamboanga bilang “Muslim-type”.
Napaulat na humingi na ng paumanhin ang NBI. (ALI G. MACABALANG)