UPLB vs ABS-CBN's MMK

My friend told me about this story and I was quite interested to write about it since I have watched the "Blusa" episode of Maalaala Mo Kaya. The "Blusa" episode by the way is a story of a woman who allegedly graduated summa cum laude in University of the Philippines Los Baños. The woman who was played by Angel Locsin ended up being a dancer in a club after many attempts to find a job in Manila. She went crazy eventually after her father passed away.

When I was watching this episode of MMK, I already noticed some strange scenarios. How can a summa cum laude graduate of UPLB cannot find a job? I thought employers will be the one that will hunt for you instead. Haven't the writers of MMK noticed that?

Anyway, here is the complete letter of UPLB to ABS-CBN:

"Our attention has been called by constituents and alumni to an episode featured in Maala-ala Mo Kaya entitled "Blusa," which was aired on ABS-CBN on Feb. 28 and on TFC recently. Our constituents and alumni were concerned whether the episode was based on truth.

The story was of a woman who allegedly graduated BS AgriBusiness, summa cum laude, from the University of the Philippines Los Baños or UPLB, who could not find a job, and ended up a stripper. We tried to find out who the subject was by tracking all 27 of our summa cum laude graduates from the time the University was established in 1909. We could not find anyone matching the subject as portrayed in "Blusa."

Whether or not the subject was a UPLB graduate, we deeply sympathize with her and her family. However, in the interest of maintaining its reputation as a truthful storyteller, the MMK should have a mechanism to validate claims by letter senders especially those that require a stretch of imagination as to be believed.

While indeed touching and a perfect example of a human-interest story, "Blusa" regrettably affected the reputation of UPLB as an educational institution and its constituents and alumni. We therefore request ABS-CBN to set the record straight and correct the wrong impression that it created among its viewers. We also make an appeal to producers of similar programs to be more prudent in reporting stories with claims that would affect the reputation not only of a school but also of its alumni in the Philippines and abroad."

If you like this post, buy me a cup of coffee.