THE INTERVIEW President Aquino with comedian Vice Ganda during their interview in Malacañang aired by ABS-CBN on Sunday. Note shiny floor of the Palace. The comedian and the President’s 38-minute give and take grabbed the top worldwide spot during its airing. SCREEN GRAB FROM VICE GANDA’S FACEBOOK PAGE
MANILA, Philippines–When President Aquino discusses his love life and receding hairline, and sings a Freddie Aguilar song on national TV, expect it to be a riot and a trending topic on Twitter.
Comedian Jose Ma. Viceral—more popularly known as “Vice Ganda”—had a 38-minute interview with President Aquino on his talk show, “Gandang Gabi Vice” (GGV), that made netizens sit up, take notice and start retweeting and sharing.
So far, “PnoyonGGV” not only breached Twitter’s trending topics locally, it also grabbed the top worldwide spot during its airing on Sunday night.
And most of the netizens were pleased.
User @tutoytintin said, “Nakita namin yung Noynoy na ordinaryong tao, hindi yung Noynoy na presidente (We saw Noynoy the Everyman, not the President).”
Funny side
Netizen @atty_rain shared the same sentiment. “It showed the ‘human’ side of [Aquino]. [In my opinion], the guesting was good for him. His supporters love to see him show his funny side. (H)is haters have to know that he’s human. (E)veryone needs good vibes to start the year,” she told Inquirer Social Media.
The interview touched on topics ranging from the President’s thoughts on fatherhood to his being an ordinary civilian again. Among the highlights was when Aquino sang some lines from Freddie Aguilar’s “Estudyante Blues.”
“Haha ang saya. Mas nakilala pa ang Other side ni PNoy. Siya ang naccc, sia lagi nakkita at sia lagi my kaslanan,” @iPrincessGo posted, quoting the lyrics of the Aguilar song.
User @tisyiann thought it was so far GGV’s best episode.
But there was negative feedback as well, and not just from journalists who had wanted to sit down with the President to tackle more serious political issues.
Laughable
User Judge Eliza B. Yu posted, “PH PREZ interviewed by Vice Ganda is laughable among foreign presidents. Never mind the laughter, it is a comedy show anyway.”
ArchAngel left a comment on a story run by Inquirer.net: “Andaming pwede mag-interview sa kanya, e sa comedian … pa nagpa-interview (Of all possible interviewers, why did he allow a comedian to do the job?).”
Silencer was more critical: “Pag interview lang pala ito nagpapakita at naglalaan ng oras pag sakuna wala… sige lang show biz pa (So he’s present during show-biz interviews, but not during disasters?)…”
The hashtag continues to trend in Twitterverse on Monday afternoon, with users getting a replay of the interview through a streaming service.–Denison Rey Dalupang, Inquirer Social Media