Forever Kamag-aral: Para sa ABS-CBN University

Graduating. (Photo from ABS-CBN University)

Dati, may cadetship program ang ABS-CBN News & Current Affairs para sa mga naghahangad maging reporter sa isa sa pinakaprestihiyosong newsroom sa Pilipinas.

Wala na nito noong pumasok ako sa ABS. Pero tila nagkaroon din kami ng kahalintulad dahil sa ABS-CBN University.

Anim na taon mula nang magbukas ito para sa mga empleyado ng ABS-CBN, kasama ang Univ sa hinintong sangay ng kompanya ngayong Agosto dahil sa shutdown ng network at pagpatay sa franchise application nito.

Nagpapasalamat pa rin ako at ikinararangal na isa ako sa mga naging mag-aaral nito.

Hindi rin siguro nadagdagan ang munti kong kahandaan sa pagre-reporter kung wala ang University.

There’s something about that Radyo Patrol number

By Anjo Bagaoisan

Getting their numbers. (Shot by Sofia Monica Regalado)

Zandro and Zhander were both outside the room when it happened.

It was a party—the 30^th anniversary bash of DZMM last October 4 to be exact—and yet Zandro was working the remote TeleRadyo booth outside the ballroom of the Marriott Hotel in Pasay, interviewing Radyo Patrol veterans for a live broadcast.

“Bigla akong pinabalik ng PA [program associate], sabi kailangan ako sa loob. E hindi naman ako sasayaw! (A PA suddenly called me back to the ballroom, saying I was needed inside. But I wasn’t scheduled to dance!)” he said.

Inside, Zandro saw ABS-CBN Integrated News head Ging Reyes and his boss, DZMM news gathering chief Edwin Sevidal, standing on the stage. Knowing what it meant, he fought tears as he walked towards them.

He and Zhander already had an inkling of this early in the night, but decided not to expect much. They even thought it might not happen since the program was already ending then.

Zhander was taking pictures with work mates then. Someone opened the ballroom door and called out to him: “Hoy pumunta ka ng stage (Hey, go up the stage)!”

“Noong nakita ko na naglalakad si Zandro on stage, alam ko na (When I saw Zandro also going up, I knew).”

Zandro Ochona, Radyo Patrol 48, and Zhander Cayabyab, Radyo Patrol 49, finally got the numbers they’ve been waiting and working for for 5 years.

The story behind ABS-CBN’s ‘refreshed’ logo

By Andrew Jonathan S. Bagaoisan

(To mark ABS-CBN’s 70th anniversary as a media organization, PinoyJournalist looks closer at the company’s visual identity, which has had a makeover in recent years. This is the first of two stories.)

If you’re one of the millions of Filipinos who regularly tune in to the top 10 most-watched shows on primetime TV or who view stories on the country’s most-visited news site, then not a day goes by when you don’t see the ubiquitous vertical bar and 3 rings that identify the Philippines’ largest media network.

There’s a chance you might not know that the icon you encounter these days on your TV set or gadget is no longer the one you’ve seen 5 years ago.

It’s already been 2 years since ABS-CBN changed its logo–its seventh corporate emblem since pioneering local television in 1953.

And if you haven’t still noticed it, that’s because they intended it that way.

THROWBACK: The fall of Camp Abubakar

By Andrew Jonathan S. Bagaoisan

The MILF flag is brought down after the seizure of Camp Abubakar. (Grab from ABS-CBN’s TV Patrol)

[UPDATED] Camp Abubakar, a place firmly associated with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the long-winded struggle for peace in Mindanao, no longer evokes the immense respect, fear or awareness it once did almost two decades ago.

Until the late 1990s, the camp was not just the stronghold of the rebel group but also its largest settlement and seat of its Shariah-based government.

Its territory stretched to tens of thousands of hectares (initial figures were 2,000, later stretching from 10,000-15,000; in some accounts, up to 32,000), covering the Maguindanao towns of Barira, Buldon, Matanog and Parang. Forests and bodies of water acted as natural barriers around the camp, augmented by trenches and tunnels dug by the MILF.

The group’s leaders—founder and chairman Salamat Hashim and then-military chief Al Haj Murad Ibrahim—lived and held office there. Abubakar contained a school, a training academy, a hospital, businesses, farms and markets, providing for the needs of its fighters and civilian residents.

The camp meant security for those claiming allegiance to the Bangsa Moro, but caution for the Christian locals and armed forces surrounding it. None dared approach or pass through.

All that changed on July 9, 2000 when Camp Abubakar fell into the hands of the Philippine military at the end of a two-month offensive. More than 20,000 residents were affected by the clash.

To Saudi with ‘Love’

By Andrew Jonathan S. Bagaoisan

In Polaroid.

It was a crazy idea. She was already an up-and-coming manager in a Makati-based firm. Her husband was an architect abroad. They already had a house, a car, and two rowdy toddlers. And now he wanted them to live with him in a country she’d never been to?

Her hubby–they called each other ‘Love’–wasn’t away for too long anyways. He regularly flew home–but not for long. Like many wives in similar situations, she also earned her share in the family budget, took care of the kids, and eagerly waited for each letter, photo, or cassette tape that came in the mail.

She was already used to the state of things. Leaving that and practically starting a new leaf just didn’t seem right.

And yet in 1994, barely six years after getting married to Andy Bagaoisan, Mabel and her sons Anjo, 5, and Nico, 3, boarded a direct flight to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Alone in Las Pinas: Mabel, Nico, Anjo

At the back of her mind, Mabel could not yet shake off her uneasiness. It was summed up in one question: What would she do there? Her parents had asked her the same. Her boss did too, as he tried everything just so a company asset wouldn’t leave. In Saudi, she knew, she would go from career woman to housewife. Was she ready for it?

Then again, this was her chance to live out married life with Andy full-time. He had flown to Saudi just months after they became an item, and came home 2 years later to get married. Since then, he only visited Manila a handful of times. It paid off: he was now in a stable post designing for a major developer in the capital, Riyadh.

Mabel was unsure where this new chapter would bring her family, but she trusted Andy and his plans.

Life in Riyadh was hot, boring, and restrictive, especially for women. Mabel had to get used to not being able to go out just any time, and whenever she could, going out wearing the black abaya, not getting to drive, and more so, not having maids around.

At least there, families enjoyed more benefits and preferential treatment than single expats. Mabel grew at home with her new routine. She and Andy learned to split and alternate housework with kid-caring duties. And she soon became pregnant with their first daughter.

1995: First family pic in Riyadh.

But in religiously conservative Saudi, Mabel and Andy found the biggest, most unlikely change–a deeper, renewed faith.

It came to Andy first–through other Filipinos who invited him to gatherings held clandestinely under the radar of the mutawa or religious police. These meetings in houses or in the desert focused on studying and living out the Bible and stressed a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. With it he found a new direction and a new community of brothers and sisters.

At first, Mabel resisted Andy’s efforts to share with her what he had found. Again, it seemed crazy, and went against all she was long used to.

But love won out. He was faithful and patient despite their momentary differences. She gradually saw the bigger Love behind his actions for her. Soon, she decided that as she went where her husband went, she would love God as he had come to love Him. Their family became part of a spiritual family–a church.

What once were four now grew to six. Two more A’s added to the mix: Andrebelle and Andric Mark. As the older boys entered grade school, Mabel gradually got to work again–first as a pre-school teacher and later as an accountant. Between engaging their school’s PTA and a few Filipino community groups, the family’s life revolved around that of their church.

2000: From four to six.

The 12 years that followed my dad and mom’s decision to live together in the land of sand and camels were not perfect or smooth, but they were surely the most memorable.

For my siblings and me, it was a coming of age, a steady growth in our awareness of life. It was also a chance to witness how our parents loved and respected each other and their decisions. If they had disagreements, they spared us from seeing that. We saw how faith led them in guiding how they managed our family.

My mother would look back on her uneasiness in going to Saudi with a smile. She’d long realized that she had followed a plan greater than my father’s. They learned to love each other more, and to bring one important person into their relationship–God.

Call it a crazy idea, but it was a trip worth taking the risk.

Shot in 2000.

———-

This is the long-overdue follow-up to the love story of my parents, which I first wrote for their 25^th wedding anniversary last year. Read about how they first met here.

Special thanks go to Sushmita Chim, Anna Marie Pagtabunan, Aljan Quilates, and Hiyas Villanueva, communication graduates of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) who found my blog and thought my parents’ story a fitting profile for their thesis on lives touched by the Light Rail Transit. I used a part of their interview with my parents as a source for this post.

10 events that made headlines on a weekend

By Andrew Jonathan S. Bagaoisan

TV Patrol Weekend’s first and current logos

Before “TV Patrol Linggo” debuted on the air on May 9, 2004, TV news on weekends was usually relegated to short, late-night rundowns of the day’s events or the week’s top stories. Today, the weekend newscast is a mainstay in a 24/7 news environment. While manned by smaller teams, aired on tighter time slots, and watched by lesser viewers, they provide a needed avenue for public service–especially when the breaking event strikes.

Watch the opening to TVP Linggo’s first newscast here:

As TV Patrol’s weekend edition marks its 10^th year, here are 10 of the country’s biggest stories that broke under its watch, proving that patrolling the news never stops:

Go to the next page >>

Pages: 1 2 3

When Filipinos last saw Pope John Paul II

By Andrew Jonathan S. Bagaoisan

Pope John Paul II waves a final goodbye to Manila during his 1995 visit. (Screen grab courtesy of ABS-CBN / TV Patrol)

Rare are the saints of the Catholic church who have been seen, encountered, or heard by so many people. And on April 27, Pope Francis canonized the man who could be the most-met saint yet.

Filipino Catholics count two countrymen among the church’s thousands of saints. But many of them will probably relate more to St. John Paul II, who led the church for more than half a century, visiting almost every country and being exposed to the most media coverage.

It is the former pope’s two visits to Manila that stand out in Filipinos’ memories. He first came here in 1981–three years after becoming pope–during the waning days of strongman Pres. Ferdinand Marcos. Pope John Paul II’s trip was soon followed by Marcos’s purported lifting of martial law.

The 10th World Youth Day in January 1995 became the pontiff’s last trip to the Philippines and his most remembered.

When did ABS-CBN first use ‘Kapamilya’?

By Andrew Jonathan S. Bagaoisan

Contrary to popular belief, way back in 2000. Back then, ABS-CBN Channel 2 was solidly number one in the Mega Manila ratings. When asked to comment then about his station’s rivalry with GMA 7, CEO Eugenio Gabriel “Gabby” Lopez III quipped, “What network war?”

On New Year’s day that year, the network unveiled a new logo: Its iconic three rings in a bigger, transparent, 3D box, its initials transformed to modern Malayan typeface and joined together below.

Soon, ABS-CBN aired interstitials (plugs aired during commercial breaks) introducing its personalities to speak for the network. At the end of the spiels, the network’s voiceover Peter Musngi said:

“Ka-pamilya namin.
Ka-pamilya ninyo.
Ka-pamilya ng bawat Pilipino.”

The series of plugs also included Dolphy and Noli De Castro and ran up until early 2001 during the height of EDSA Dos.

Here’s one featuring then “Balitang K” anchor Korina Sanchez:

The idea was revolutionary–using a term of familiarity, even endearment, to describe the relationship of a television station to its audience. It would set the tone for the brewing network war of years to come. It would set off the likes of Kapuso, Kabarkada, Kabisyo, and Kapatid.

But it was only three years after, during the 50th year of Philippine TV in 2003, that ABS-CBN officially adopted Kapamilya as its slogan and moniker for its viewers and talents.

Ganito ang Sawdi Layf – Nike

In 2001, I was one of over a hundred students who enrolled at the Second Philippine International School (SPIS) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

A number, like me, had transferred from other Philippine schools in the area. Many, however, had moved from the Philippines with their parents. We also had over 20 new teachers and staff from the homeland.

Thus the fastest-growing Philippine school in Riyadh at the time grew a little bigger.

And tucked inside the first 2001 issue of SPIS Insights, the school’s then two-year-old publication, was a short yet ingenious Filipino article on an OFW’s new life in the Kingdom.

The author, a pseudonym (that is, not me).

It matched the homesickness of those missing the Philippines with the quickest available connection they had to home–ABS-CBN’s The Filipino Channel or TFC.

Even if you haven’t landed on the Arab desert, the sampling of TV shows (many defunct, others still airing) in this piece will evoke memories of the early 2000s.

(POSTSCRIPT, Oct. 5: After posting this, I thought of sending a link to a former SPIS teacher, Sir Nick Peñaverde. Turns out the tidbit I heard was true all along. He did write the following piece. And reading it again seemed like a gift on National Teacher’s Week. Here’s a tribute to all my elem and high school teachers–all OFWs too.)

(Published on Page 10, Filipino section of SPIS Insights, Volume III, Issue No. 1, August 2001)

(From the book “Pinoy Television: The Story of ABS-CBN)

 
Mahigit apat na buwan na rin ang nakalipas sa PAHINA ng aking Saudi life. Animo’y MISSION X ang bawat karanasan na nilalaro sa MBA ng buhay.

Noong una’y OKA TOKAT ang nararamdaman, ngunit dahil kapwa Pilipino PIPOL ang KABALIKAT palagi, KEEP ON DANCING ang feelings kahit sobrang init ang bawat sandali.

Ala SINGKO Y MEDYA ang gising kung magluluto ka pa at ASAP ka naman para ‘di mahuli sa SINESKWELA.

SARAP TV kapag may selebrasyon at bertdeyan, dahil libre ang MAGANDANG TANGHALIan BAYAN.

Sakay ng THE BUZZ sa tuwing mag ma-market day, S.I.M. card ng Aljawwal ang kailangan upang celpon mo’y maging okey.

Iba’t ibang bagay dito sa Camel Land aking lubos na nauunawaan. Huwag gagawa ng maling GIMIK upang ‘di ma-ISYU 101, sumunod sa alituntunin at batas upang ‘di ma-KRIS & TELL ang buhay.

O SPIS sa Sawdi, salamat, maraming salamat. PANGAKO SA’YO mga turo mo at aral ay aking pahahalagahan. Sa PUSO KO IINGATAN KA tulad ni SHARON na iniidolo ng masa.

Ang galing mo’y dapat lang i-TALK TV at ibalita sa TV PATROL, at awitin ng lahat ang tagumpay mo sa SING dat SONG.

Kung KAYA NI MISTER, KAYA NI MISIS ang mga homesick na nagdaan, asahan mong ako’y ‘di magbabago, BODY en the GUARD mong tunay.

Mananatili ang suporta ko sa iyo, tulad ng nag-aalab na FLAMES. Saan man, kailanman, MARTIN LATE AT NITE o MAGANDANG GABI BAYAN man, TFC THIS WEEK, this month, this year- ikaw lang, MAALAALA MO KAYA ang laman ng puso’t isipan.

RECUERDO DE AMOR ang ngalan mo, at maituturing na THE GLOBAL FILIPINO ang iyong mga produkto.

Ito ang aking Sawdi life, ang aking karanasan, bumalikman sa Pinas ‘di ito malilimutan, ngayon, bukas… hanggang SA DULO NG WALANG HANGGAN.

Sino ako ang tanong mo?? ASSIGNMENT mo na ‘yan!

Pinoy TV mash-up for OFWs, 2001 edition

Remember your UPCAT?

 

SPIS Insights, Aug-Nov 2004 issue

Except for some hazy mental snapshots, I have little to recall of the time I took the University of the Philippines College Admission Test or UPCAT.

The Nokia 6600 was only beginning the wave of cellphone picture-taking. I guess we were also rather excited to bother taking shots.

The test questions evade my memory too.

My classmates and I took the exam in October–way past the national testing month of August.

Fortunately, they brought the UPCAT to the Middle East. The hundreds of senior students studying in the region’s 34 Philippine schools no longer needed to cut classes to fly home.

Our testing centers were the Philippine embassy and consulates. The testing fee–100 US Dollars.

What I only remember now is what’s captured in this feature we did in our school paper a month after our UPCAT.

Our features editor Bea Borja collected the quips. No surprise she later passed and finished her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics at the university.

UPCAT 2004

Thoughts and quotes from the test room

(Published on Page 10, Feature section of SPIS Insights, the Official Student Publication of the Second Philippine International School in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Volume V, Issue No. 2, August-November 2004)

BEFORE the test…

“Andiyan na si Ma’am Francial.”
“O ano? Puntahan na natin?”
“Sakay tayo sa bus para kunyari hinatid tayo!”
“Wag masyadong magulo!”
“Guys, let’s pray na.”
“Hala…Kinabahan ako!”
“Ano na nga ba ang formula ng surface area ng cube?”
“Eh, ung forumla ng surface area ng cube?”
“Nagdala ka pa ng libro? Ay, baon mo pala. Huh?”
“Ay! Pinto pala ‘to! Kanina pa ako nagtataka kung paano sila nakakapasok.”
“Malamig ba sa loob? Bakit sila naka-jacket?”
“Mag-CR na ang dapat mag-CR.”
“Uy, camera, camera! Dali pose na!”
“Makikita tayo sa TFC! Chance na natin ‘to para ma-discover!”
“Ang gulo niyo, Fourth Year. Hindi ako natutuwa, hindi ako natutuwa.”
“Teka! Sino pa ang wala?”
“Sina Sarah, Dean at Ronnie po.”
“Asan si Sarah?”
“Nagbo-blower pa yata ng kanyang hair.”
“Naku si Ronnie! Hinarang na yata sa entrance!”
“Ganun?”
“Paano kaya kung sumigaw ako dito ng ‘Bomba!’?”
“Ang tagal naman! Lalo akong kinakabahan, eh.”
“Nakita niyo na yung kamukha ni Ma’am Aficial?”
“Alin diyan?”
“Yun. Yung kauupo lang.”
“O pila na, pila na. Boys first, alphabetical.”
*THIS IS the moment! (Ala-Erik)*
“Eto na! Good luck, good luck…”
“God speed people!”

DURING…

*tinginan…smila*
*scratch…*
“Hmmp! Ang hirap!”
“Sir, pahingi pa po ng scratch paper…”
“Excuse me po…”
“Hmm… Ugh!”
*kamot sa ulo*

AFTER…

“O kumusta?”
“Ano, kita-kits na lang sa PLM!”
“Ang hirap nung Science!”
“Oo nga! Limot ko na yung mga moles-moles na yan, eh!”
“Ang haba pa nung Reading Comprehension!”
“Natapos mo?”
“Hindi nga, eh.”
“Nag-iwan ka ng blanks?”
“Oo. Bakit, ikaw?”
“Hindi. Di naman daw right-minus-wrong talaga, eh.”
“Psst, sino nga pala yung katabi mo kanina?”
“Hey, pray tayo uli!”
“Thank you po sa lahat, Lord…”
“O, sinong susundo sa ‘yo?”
“Si Daddy.”
“Pakner, pwedeng makisabay?”
“Ang haba pala talaga nun!”
“Hirap pa!”
“Ang tagal naman ng sundo ko!”
“Hmmp! Gutom na ako!”

*Compiled by the 18 Seniors who took the UP College Admission Test at the Philippine Embassy last Oct. 24

No matter when one took the UPCAT, all results still come out on January or February the following year. Another memorable moment for a UP student.

To the prospective Iskos and Iskas whose student numbers will begin with “13”, all the best!