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Stop watching 'Desperate Housewives,' senators ask

'Apology not enough'

By Veronica Uy
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 02:43pm (Mla time) 10/04/2007

MANILA, Philippines--At least three senators have said they are not satisfied with the apology of the American television network ABC for the unflattering comments on Filipino doctors made in its show "Desperate Housewives."

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chairperson of the Senate committee on foreign relations, asked television viewers to stop watching the show.

Santiago said that if the show's ratings fall, it will naturally be taken off the air. "So I'm asking everyone to stop watching the show," she said.

The senator also suggested that local television channel Studio 23 stop airing the show. "I respectfully suggest that as a measure of Philippine displeasure, the domestic commercial channel should stop airing the show, or cancel its contract," she said.

Despite an apology from the American television network that produces the show, Senator Pia Cayetano, chairperson of the Senate committee on health and demography, went ahead and wrote the show's writer to express her indignation for "undermining the integrity of [the Philippines'] medical professionals.

Cayetano said that the line is "uncalled for and insensitive" and is particularly "irresponsible" because it is shown worldwide. "Our nurses and our doctors are highly in demand because they are topnotch. If the remark had been factual, maybe we could let it pass, but it's not," she said.

Senator Ramon Revilla Jr. said an apology is not enough. "It is not commensurate to the damage created by the derogatory remark made by the show. The makers of 'Desperate Housewives' should formally and publicly express their apology in their next episode to signify sincerity," he said in a statement.

Revilla, a local action star, also said the episode where Teri Hatcher's character questioned the integrity of diplomas from Philippine medical schools should be erased from future airings and other reproductions of the episode.