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Satirical Verson of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” pokes fun at local politicians.
Christmas is an extended holiday in the Philippines, where celebrations often start in September and last until the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6. But some members of the Filipino legislature cannot be happy about a satirical song, set to the tune of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” which mocks their alleged participation in one of the country’s biggest recent political scandals, according to Remy Santos of East Asia Media Group, as reported by the popular culture website Batangasvarsitarian.net on December 24.
The scam involves apparently fraudulent misuse of the P.D.A.F. (Priority Development Assistance Fund) which refers to moneys allotted to lawmakers for special projects, usually in their home districts. For at least ten years these funds were allegedly channeled into fake NGOs set up by private businessmen and women, including millionaire Janet Napoles, who has become the public face of the latest scandal. The NGOs had ostensibly commendable goals, like agricultural research and natural gas exploration, but much of the money went unaccounted for and is assumed to have been pocketed by Senators and Representatives. Napoles was arrested on August 28, and has so far refused to name who received P.D.A.F. money under her control. (See “Janet Napoles and the Unraveling of the Pork Barrel Scandal”, by Yasmin Arquiza of GMA News, December 31, 2013, http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/341906/news/specialreports/janet-napoles-and-the-unraveling-of-the-pork-barrel-scandal)
The song, “Janet the Pork Barrel Princess” by Principe Lovely (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbSUyYmefJw), mentions no last names, but does claim that ‘Janet’ gave politicans 2 billion pesos, channeled through fraudulent foundations. The song has appeared and disappeared on various video upload sites since late December, and at one time was the no. 9 song in the Philippines, as measured by number of downloads per minute. Already parodies of the parody are appearing, and it appears that Filipinos will be having video fun at their government’s expense for quite a while.
[Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a registered trademark of Character Arts, LLC]
Posted On: Manila, Philippines January 03, 2014
