Daily Show disrespectful not only to Cory but to Pinays – Mayor Lim

Manila Mayor Alfredo S. Lim on Saturday called on Filipinos to register their protest against Comedy Central’s The Daily Show for maligning former Philippine President Corazon Aquino on one of the show’s segments aired recently.

Lim also urged Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo to protest the perceived slur on the Philippines’s democracy icon with the US State Department.

The Daily Show TV episode featured Mrs Aquino along with former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as part of a joke intended for American audiences who are facing the possibility of having a woman president.

The spoof was shown in a “news report" by Samantha Bee titled “Is America Ready for a Woman President?"

Meir, Aquino and Thatcher were ridiculed in the spoof for not being good leaders.

The doctored photographs crawling from top to bottom of the lap tap’s monitor showed Meir with the Yiddish word “Oy!" above her, leg-spreading Thatcher with the word “Oops!" and a beaming Aquino with the word “Slut!" and hand-drawn hearts across her face.

Lim, a close associate of the Aquino family, said that although the show is satirical in nature it is still not an excuse for slurring the former president of the Philippines.

Mrs Aquino, Lim said, is a well-loved public figure who is known for being ultra-conservative and continues to command the highest respect and esteem from all Filipinos and people from various parts of the world.

“She is an icon of democracy, the first woman president of the Philippines once cited by the Time Magazine as `Woman of the Year’ and also the first lady president to address the US Congress," Lim said.

He said he is alarmed that if a highly respectable woman like Mrs Aquino could be treated shabbily by the American TV network, “how else can we expect our Filipino women to get the respect they deserve once they are abroad?"

“If we allow this kind of attack on the integrity of a woman who once held the highest position in the land, what would stop the world from debasing our women of lesser stature?" the mayor added.

Even if done in jest, Lim said the aspersion cast on Mrs Aquino should not be taken lightly as it was done in poor taste and in complete disregard of the Filipinos’s sensitivities. - GMANews.TV