Tuesday, June 21, 2011

An appeal to Globe

Mr. Ernest Cu
President
Globe Telecom

Dear Mr. Cu,

Greetings! I pray this letter finds you well.

I hope that you don't mind that I am writing you again directly. You have personally answered my complaints before (and to be honest that is one of the reasons why I am still a Globe customer, for eleven years now), and I am taking the same liberty again to express my sentiment to you as a concerned subscriber.

I am part of an online community called Para Sa Mga Bata (Movement to End Child Abuse). Now 14,000-plus strong, this group came about as a result of what we believe was an incident of child abuse on a live game show on national TV. This group, I believe, is not only people power online, but also consumer power.


Immediately after bringing attention on this incident to various groups (government, media, advertisers, etc), we have asked the advertisers of the show to consider pulling out as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility and their commitment to upholding quality TV programming and most especially children’s rights. Major companies like Unilever, Procter and Gamble and Jollibee Food Corporation pulled out their sponsorship from the said show. This after the Commission on Human Rights, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, international media organizations and thousands of Filipinos have said that indeed, it was child abuse. The MTRCB even suspended the show for one month for violation of broadcast rules.

After the suspension, however, the show went back on air supported by a few companies but most prominent among them were companies owned by Mr. Manny Pangilinan, including SMART. This despite the fact that a criminal case was filed against the host of the show where they chose to advertise.

A company does not own the money that they use to advertise. It is money paid to them by the consumers. As such, at the end of the day, it is basically the consumers who are paying for these poor quality shows with which these companies advertise. It is with this thought that I realized that some of my friends and family members are also guilty of supporting a show that is guilty of child abuse. And I cannot live with that.

It is for this reason that I will be asking my friends and family to give up their SMART number, and with the recent acquisition of Digitel by MVP, their Sun numbers as well. This leaves Globe as the only option. But before I do this, I need to ask you 3 questions:

1.   Is Globe ready to commit that it will not advertise on Wil Time Big Time, at least until the KBP has ruled on the issue and the criminal case filed against Mr. Willie Revillame has been decided by the courts? I mean, would you be willing to risk your company’s reputation into someone (and a show) who will eventually be found guilty of child abuse?
2.   Would Globe be willing to listen to its consumers on issues like this? Or will you be like SMART who refused time and again to listen to pleas from its consumers.
3.   Would Globe be holding on to your values as a company and uphold the common good, or will you be like SMART who is only after profit?

Lastly, for you, I would like to ask: Would you be the Globe President that I admired for transforming Globe’s customer service or will you be like Manny Pangilinan, who in my opinion, doesn’t give a damn about public opinion, doesn’t care about the request of their customers, and worse, doesn’t value the welfare and the rights of Filipino children.

When I wrote you last year about my concerns with Globe’s service and customer relations, you personally answered my concerns and have your people address them. When I wrote Mr. Pangilanan about this issue, he did not even bother to reply, much less ask his secretary to acknowledge it. I don’t want to be supporting a company headed by this kind of person. He might be one of the most successful businessmen around, but in my books, he doesn’t deserve even an ounce of respect as a leader. My hopes are with you.

Thank you for your indulgence in reading this letter.

Para sa mga bata,

Froilan Grate
Administrator
 
Patuloy na umiibig sa Pilipinas, 
At naniniwala sa galing ng Pilipino,  
Froilan Grate | GreenMinds  
www.NoBystanders.blogspot.com

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