Not one celebrity in the star-studded video of Mar Roxas and Leni Robredo was paid even a single centavo.
Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas finally spoke about the much criticized Christmas video of him and Robredo, stressing that the celebrities volunteered to appear in the music video of “Fast Forward.”
“Absolutely zero government funding was used to produce the video, because we did not pay any of the celebrities a single centavo. Ito yung mga naniniwala na dapat magpatuloy ang Daang Matuwid,” said Roxas during the “Town Hall 2016 forum” of CNN Philippines held at the Far Eastern University last Thursday.
Popular love team Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla, “Diamond Star” Maricel Soriano, cager James Yap and host-comedian Ramon Bautista were among those who joined Roxas and Robredo in the video.
The song about the administration’s reform agenda “Daang Matuwid” was performed by host-singer Billy Crawford, Jay-R and Kris Lawrence. Other stars in the video were Karylle, Angelu de Leon, Carla Abellana, Melai Cantiveros, Jason Francisco, Chokoleit, Rufa Mae Quinto and Martin del Rosario.
“Nakikita nila na malayo na ang narating natin, marami na ang napag-tagumpayan natin. At nais nila na magpatuloy ‘yong kaunlaran sa ating bansa so wala kaming binayaran na kahit sinong celebrity or sinong star or kahit sinong tao na mag-appear doon sa music video na ’yon (They see that we’ve reached far enough, achieved much success. And they want to continue the progress in our country so we didn’t pay any celebrity or star or whoever appeared in that music video),” Roxas added.
Critics are accusing the LP of using government funds for the campaign of Roxas and Robredo, citing the ruling party’s well-oiled political machineries.
Christian Escolano, the director of the video, also defended the LP, pointing out that except for the production team, no talent fee was paid to the celebrities.
Fake dislikes?
In Youtube where the video was uploaded by Limitless Productions, more than 26,000 viewers “disliked” the video.
But in the Facebook page “Oras Na, Roxas Na,” it shared a post from Facebook user Criselle Domingo urging her fellow supporters of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to create a Youtube account and vote thumbs down on the video.
“Do not finish the video at add up sa view count nila, sa dislike lang tayo. good morning! #duterteforpresident #du302016,” Domingo said in her post. TVJ
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