Love it, or hate it, this week you certainly could not ignore it. The Philippines has been gripped by what one wag has called a 'Krisis' - triggered by celebrity Kris Aquino's confession of abuse at the hands of her married lover.
Newspapers and television channels have been clearing the decks to make way for wall-to-wall coverage of the latest drama surrounding the former president's daughter.
Kris shocked the nation by accusing her lover of 18 months, Paranaque city Mayor Joey Marquez, of pointing and cocking a loaded gun at her head, and of infecting her with chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease that can cause infertility.
Mr Marquez, a former comedian and basketball player, has denied using a gun during the quarrel, and claimed he was the battered partner.
Lacking royalty, the Aquino family is one of the nearest things Filipinos can get to it. The nation has watched Kris grow up from a giddy, bubbly youngster into a poised, outspoken woman of 33.
Since the actress made the revelations on prime-time television, expensive bouquets of flowers have been streaming into former president Corazon Aquino's residence in suburban Manila's Quezon City. That is where Kris has taken refuge with Joshua, her seven-year-old son sired by another married man.
Mrs Aquino herself has not been able to avoid the media glare. She was reported to have told Kris' friends that if her assassinated husband were alive, the mayor 'would be dead'.
It was, the same wag said, 'like Mother Teresa wishing ill of someone'. Mrs Aquino had to make a public apology to the mayor.
Some observers have condemned the media frenzy. Catholic priest Raul Enriquez, spokesman of Gomburza - a militant clergy group - said it was just 'another entertainment spectacle for the impoverished nation' and showed 'there is really something terribly wrong with the Filipino people'.
Jim Fernando, spokesman for militant farmers group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, criticised the media's 'overkill' treatment of the affair, saying it buried more pressing issues like workers' rights and poverty.
But various women's rights groups have asked Kris to use her experience to turn a spotlight on the issue of domestic violence, which one organisation said afflicts six out of every 10 women.
Ordinarily in Filipino society, a Filipino woman who confesses to cohabiting with a married man is ostracised and condemned.
Even the jailed renegade soldiers, who tried to mount a coup against the government on July 27, praised her 'as an example that when you are being oppressed, you have the right to combat such oppression', their lawyer Roel Pulido said.
Kris herself may benefit from the latest glare of publicity. She recently revealed she intended to run for the Senate and predicted victory by saying she was popular.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tK%2FMqWWcp51krrPAyJyjnmdkZ4Z0hJBop6GhnJ69sbXNnqpmoqWowW6vwKerZp%2BVqXqmus6unqFlm6e2tLXS