Hope springs eternal for ABS-CBN
When I was in Grade V. elementary level, there was this story of the Pied Piper
of Hamelin.
The story says that in a far away country, there was a deluge of rats
resulting to famine and illness.
One day, there was a man bringing a flute and played his music along the highway resulting to all the rats following the man.
His music seemed to hypnotize the rodents until their perdition as they were all led to a deep crevice of water. The pestilence vanished.
When I became older, I learned another angle to the story. They were not
actually rats that were killed to perdition as they fell into the crevice. They were
children.
This angle of the story. I realize further, has some bearing to the biblical story of the “Holy Innocents” by the decree of King Herod. He ordered his men to kill children below 2 years old in search of the Child Jesus.
I guess, the children in our times know this by heart since this is part of the Christmas story. My grandmother always narrated this to me and to us (the other grandchildren) during bedtime. The celebration of “Holy Innocents’ Day” is every December 28 of the year.
Last Friday, congress read the verdict and, of course, the fate of the franchise renewal application of the media giant network managed by the Lopezes. The Lopezes own 45 percent of the corporate shares of stocks.
The application was “killed” in the committee level with 70 committee members voting for non-renewal and only 11 for renewal.
When we were newly married, there was ABS-CBN in Cebu. TV then was in black and white. There was a night with Pilita Corrales and there was that song: a “A Million Thanks To You, My Love”.
There was also a Sunday night program named: “Panagimpan of Marlene Dauden”. I remember this program well because I had my first labor pain after viewing Panagimpan; a few hours after, our first child was born. The format was like that of “Maalaala Mo Kaya”.
When we transferred to Medina, we bought our black and white TV in time for the Miss Universe contest held in Manila with Miss Spain winning the crown. At that time, the men’s favorite was Miss Aruba. “Seksing, seksi, daw”, the men said.
Niadtong mga panahuna, kinahanglan nga taas gyud kaayo ang antenna sa among tv (ug sa uban pang mga tv sets) aron makuha namo ang signal. Lisud kaayo ang signal sa among panahon.
Ang among ta-as nga antenna, adto ibutang sa atop sa balay. This is the reason that the height of the tv antenna before, was, more or less, a status symbol of the family. Ug naa kay antenna sa balay, naa jud kay tv. Ug ta-as ka ug antenna, daghan ka ug kuarta. Mao ba? Then martial law was declared. Our tv was still black and white and ABS-CBN was taken over by the Marcos regime. Some of the famous tv shows during the take over regime were: Hawaii 5-0, Streets of San Francisco, The Bionic Man, Charlie’s Angels, to name a few.
Television, then, was some kind of furniture which was a fixture in the sala, and all members of the household would converge at the sala for viewing. Then, portable television came into being. With the advent of portable television, our TV set was placed in the bedroom so that we can regulate the viewing time of the children. My daughter gifted me with a flat screen TV. My old TV remains
in the sala.
The hearings in congress were very frustrating. Mura ba ug obvious na obvious nga mura ug human daan. It was human behaviour dubiously working in the guise of a democratic process.
I admire Congressman Bishop Abante. He was one of those who grilled ABS-CBN on content: its “lewdness and all” on some programs. But at the end of the 12 sessions, he was satisfied with the explanation of ABS-CBN and with a promise of correcting issues as observed and demanded.
Furthermore, the behavior of its president Carlo Katigbak showed something commendable: He was very cool under pressure. I would say, he remained a gentleman to the very end.
The eleven (11) congressmen who imbedded my day last Monday are: Gabriel Bordado, Carlos Zarate, Sol Aragones, Vilma Santos, Lienda Bolilia, Toff de Venecia, Ping Tejada, Beny Abante. Stella Quimbo, Mujid Hatama, Edward Maceda
And now I am already 74 years old and partly disabled. How can I ever erase the memory of ABS-CBN? Through ABS-CBN, I witnessed the landing of man on the moon; the documentaries of the rescue of Antibes which was “Operation Benjamin”; the Bay of Pigs and many more? How can I ever forget those reporters and men I met in Tacloban who were there before and after Yolanda? As we were there before the new year of 2013, they said we have not been home yet, man. Malamang matatagalan pa. Tua pa gihapon sila sa Tacloban. Tacloban is still in a mess. I cry for them. It was only then that I have realized lisud diay ng trabahoa sa media.
In recent years and months, we had Pangako Sa Iyo, May Bukas Pa with Santino, Rosalinda, and Chabilita. Families used to be glued on ABS-CBN TV the whole day especially after dinner. And I am terribly missing Probinsiyano.
Although this teleserye, Probinsiyano is fiction in nature, yet, its events mirror what is happening around us. Its events have a semblance of reality. “Halik” another teleserye, though for mature audiences, is depicting true to life scenes that will cultivate in the viewer the value of the sanctity of marriage. We cannot help but “hate” Yam Concepcion as she is an expert in her field. This includes
Jericho Rosales’ acting ability. The telenobelas of ABS-CBN are beyond compare. Who wouldn’t miss ABS-CBN? You and me, definitely. And there was still that one teleserye in the afternoon – Love Thy Woman.
That was superb! And now with the difficult situation the giant network is thrown into, do you think the company is still in the loop? When Kim Atienza was interviewed by Cito Beltran last Monday, tears fell when he said: ill stick it out until the very last breath of ABS-CBN. The tears of this 75 year old ABS-CBNer also rolled down her cheeks.