The Visayan Voice
The Vizvoyz was organized by a group Cebuano Visayans that are experiencing a renaissance of
arts, culture and music and at the same time finally reawakened by a systematic discrimination of
Visayans in different parts of the country. Such discrimination exists in many sectors of our
society and mostly prevalent in the work place, schools and universities. Even TV shows air a
distasteful mockery of the Visayan accent by Pepe Pimentel and in the now defunct "Esep-esep" segment of MTB noontime show.
Mark Logan of the Balitang Cute segment of ABS-CBN's TV Patrol World, showed no respect for his Dumaguete hosts by repeatedly mimicking "toe-rest" mocking his Visayan guide's pronunciation of the word "tourists". Visayans in general are often portrayed by movies and TV shows as housemaids, drivers, janitors or dumb simpletons having difficulty coping with life in Manila. This stereotyping of an ethnic group that speaks a language more widely spoken all over the country than Tagalog is despicable.
The Vizvoyz do not espouse hatred and discrimination against other etchnic groups, nor do we have any prejudice against other people of different religion, political ideology or sexual orientation. We just feel that it is now our time to reassert ourselves as a powerful force to be reckoned by our national political leaders that are brazenly corrupt and incompetent in alleviating the conditions of our people. One half of Negros Island, most of Leyte province and practically the whole of Mindanao speak the Cebuano Visayan dialect. If you were born in Cagayan de Oro, you speak Cebuano Visayan not Cagayano and likewise for people born in Ormoc, Dumaguete, Ozamiz, Davao City, Butuan, Bohol, Siquijor, etc. There maybe some nuances in the dialect and accent, but basically we share the same culture, traits, food, arts, crafts, music and our passion for fiestas and kinilaw. We have nothing against the Ilonggos, Tarlacanons, Pampanguenos.
The emergence of the Vizvoyz came at a crucial time in our history when our country is experiencing one of its worst leadership crisis. This is the legacy of past Presidents from the worst dictator President Marcos, an Ilocano and a succession of failures a Tarlacanon, Pangasinense and the soon to be convicted Ex-President who is supposed to be a city slicker but does not carry a hint of cosmopolitan intelligence and sophistication. Pagka ungas sa yawa! Never in our history has a leader from Luzon uplifted the conditions of our people.
